Welcome to Whistler
by Belmene
Summary: Rodney has a family problem and should go to Canada. The team goes with him. They do not know what will happen to them in Whistler! Romance and adventure with multipairing: Sheyla, McKeller,Romelia.
1. Chapter 1: Bad news

**"Welcome to Whistler !"**

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Disclaimer****: **Stargate Atlantis and all characters are © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., the Sci Fi Channel, and Acme Shark. No infringement is intended. All hosted works are © their respective owners and may not be used or reproduced without the owners' permission.  
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****Series: **the story takes place after the end of season 5. It's the sequel of my fic "Small party between girls" but no need to read this first fic to understand the story.

**Status**: complete

**A/N:**

If you take time to visit my profile, you'll see I'm not an English native speaker. I won't say my story is the best fanfiction ever yetI did my best to translate it and bring it to you here. Do not hesitate to review and give your opinion. I like constructive criticism!

I've never been in Canada -or in Whistler for that matter-, but I searched as many information as I could on the Internet to be the more accurate possible. I apologize in advance to potential Canadian readers; if you find big mistakes or think I stereotyped something, please tell me so I can make the necessary changes and say my _Mea culpa_!  
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****Rating****: **T in general but some passages are M.

I'd like to thank **Planet p** and **Codzwallop** who helped me translate this fic from French to English. Girls, you made a wonderful work, you are awesome!

Enjoy and review if you want the chapter 2 !

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Chapter 1: Bad news**

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"I've already told you a hundred times that I don't want you rushing into risky experiments on the naquadah generator before your calculations had had the chance to be verified by somebody other than yourself!"

"Petrov verified!"

"I don't care if Petrov verified, I meant _me_, Radek!"

The Czech sighed. The morning promised to be very long –there still was another three hours to spend with a particularly unbearable McKay before he could go for lunch…

"This equation is wrong, look…" Rodney continued, sticking his screen pad under Zelenka's nose. "Do I have to check everything in this lab?"

Their faces were boiling with red-tinted indignation, Petrov and Leonetti looked up at McKay as he went by and made his way towards the central console, grumbling.

"_Citronovy_!" Zelenka spat out, as soon as McKay was out of earshot.

"I heard you, Radek! You know what, You really are narrow-minded!"

OK, maybe not quite out of earshot…Suddenly, McKay's communicator buzzed.

"_Doctor McKay, Mr. Woolsey is waiting for you in his office. It's urgent." _

The scientist grumbled again.

"What happened?" McKay groused. "I'm not even given the time to concentrate on my research lately!"

"_Our_ research…" Zelenka corrected more shyly than he'd have liked.

"_My_ research! And _you_, you are my assistant on this project! And I might add that when I see the huge mistakes you continue to make here on a simple potential quadrivector, as though you just got out of pre-school, I think I could perfectly do fine without your help!" Rodney exclaimed leaving the room.

"_Citronovy, citronovy, citronovy…_" muttered the Czech through his clenched teeth.

Sometimes, Radek wondered if McKay actually thought before saying anything, because he could really be hurtful at times. At least, that is what the Czech might have wondered if he hadn't been too busy trying really hard to ignore Rodney!

OooooooO

"So, Kanaan, you're leaving us already?"

John was sitting on the sofa near Teyla and held Torren on his lap. The little boy looked at him with a great smile and tried to catch his nose with his plump little fingers.

"Yes, my cousin needs me for the harvests" Kanaan conveyed in reply.

"I am also going back to New Athos, John. Torren was deprived for such a long time of his two parents since Atlantis returned to the Milky Way. Our people also need me. They are afraid of having to deal with the Wraith again without the protection of the city."

Kanaan approached the Athosian woman and took her hand. He addressed Sheppard:

"Thank you for bringing Torren and I here. I believe Teyla was starting missing us very much." He tenderly caressed the cheek of his partner and took her hand in order to drop a kiss on her fingers.

"And thank you for your hospitality," he continued. "Everybody has been taken very good care of us over these last two months."

"Oh, but you're welcome here anytime!"

Torren had finally managed to catch the military man's cheek and was fascinated by the stubble of rising beard which covered it.

"General Landry is expecting me at the SGC in the afternoon," Kanaan revealed his plans to the other man.

"From there, I'll take the Stargate to P3X 412 where the Daedalus is stationed. I'll take advantage of the fact that this man, Dr Jackson, wants to meet the people of the planet Proculis. I want to leave as quickly as possible. Teyla will join me in a few days… Apparently, she has some late mission reports," he said on a derisive note.

Teyla didn't laugh. She raised her eyes skyward and sighed.

"Woolsey…" Sheppard speculated, his expression one of compassion. It fitted that the instigation was that of Richard Woolsey.

The Athosian agreed and put her arms out to take back Torren, who was trying, now, to test the resistance of the earlobe of his human toy.

John's communicator vibrated.

_/"Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard, Mr. Woolsey is waiting for you in his office. It's urgent."/ _

"Speak of the devil… Well…" Sheppard said, getting up, "Teyla, I'll see you later in the Mess."

OoooooO

Motionless, Ronon observed his sparring partner. He held his two bantos in his right hand, leaving his left hand free for him to fold up behind his back.

"You're going to offend me, Ronon! Am I so bad that you need only a single hand to take me down?"

Amelia was in a position of defense, in front of him. She brandished her own bantos skillfully in front of her face. She had put up her hair and her flexible but too-short T-shirt showed off the tanned and gleaming skin of her belly.

For a moment, Ronon's eyes were irresistibly attracted by the curve of the technician's hips. It was one moment of inattention which Amelia did not miss. She rushed her opponent and administered a flight of knocks which more or less made their mark on the Satedan.

He managed, however, to draw back from her attack and recover his concentration.

"Your technique's getting better, Banks," he commented breathily, slightly put out to have lost his attention at the sight of Amelia's body, which he… well, which he found appealing.

He should have been able to keep his feeling under control, he considered, and, yet, he had not.

A malicious smile showed on Amelia's face and she began circling him, ready to wage another attack.

"You've shown steady progression over the month we've been training. I'm impressed**.**" Ronon added, revolving to keep her in his line of sight.

The technician tried another attack, but this time the Satedan was ready, countering and pushing her back with effortless ease.

She was not as skillful as Teyla, but she managed very well, he thought.

Amelia tried to reach Ronon's right flank but he blocked his opponent's bantos with an arm. At the same time, he dodged to the side which unbalanced the young lady. She tried to remain standing upright whilst sending a kick the Satedan's way.

The kick was immediately fended off. Then, using his free arm, Ronon seized the technician's leg and brought her crashing down to the floor, and put a hand to her throat.

Ronon found his body hovering over Amelia's, both of them suddenly very still. Their faces were so close that Amelia's warm, panting breath came up to caress his lips softly, with intermittent frequency.

Ronon fought to keep his own respiration under control. _Don't look at her mouth_,he thought.

Amelia seemed to be waiting… As he watched, her brown pupils threw a thousand flashes of lighting.

Suddenly, Ronon got up, abandoning his partner on the floor. He went to collect the bantos and tidied up them in their cases.

The young lady recovered her feet slowly. Her cheeks were on fire.

"Sorry if I was a little bit harsh there, Banks," Ronon threw from the other side of the room. He came back with a towel and a bottle of water.

She thanked him, dried her face with the towel and drunk a mouthful of fresh water. She forced herself to hide her disappointment, but strangely found herself smiling in spite of it.

"I am not a glass doll, Ronon."

"I know… and it's generous of you to train with me. Since Torren's birth, Teyla is less and less available."

"But, certainly, she is a better opponent!" Amelia commented.

"That's true…" Ronon admitted. Then, moments later, he regretted his too-frank answer.

Amelia began laughing. She liked Ronon's honesty. And also his self-confidence. Though, not everybody on the base was apparently of the same opinion as she was.

"I've been making some progress; it's inevitable, really, I think…"

"Hum… I didn't mean to say…"

"I know," Amelia cut in, laughing again in spite of the discomfit that showed on his face. He was taking this way too seriously; of course she understood what he'd meant!

A short while later, they had left the training room and were now walking side by side in the corridor when they saw Rodney arrive at a run ahead of them, apparently very irritated.

"Hi, McKay! You seem in a hurry!" Ronon exclaimed.

"Yeah… yeah…!" were the only words that the couple was able to hear before Rodney had passed them at rocket speed without even a glance.

Amelia was hardly surprised, nor offended. Rodney McKay's reputation had remained unchanged for a long time now on Atlantis!

"How do the two of you get on?" Amelia questioned, of Rodney and Ronon.

"When he begins to get on my nerves, I look him in the eyes and he stops talking. So, between us, it's OK…" came Ronon's answer.

The technician smiled.

They finally arrived in front of Amelia's bedroom.

"In fact, Ronon, you can call me Amy if you want." She declared.

"Amy… OK…" Ronon had no time to finish his sentence as Chuck made his way over to them.

He stopped dead at the sight of the Satedan and threw him a dark look. Then, he straightened and stood squarely in front of them.

"Hi, Amelia… Hum… Well, we got the holiday planning sorted with Burns and your week of vacation begins the day after tomorrow. I bargained with Newman who also wanted this time, too, and he folded. Going with this arrangement, I would replace you during your holidays, but we'll have to discuss your secondary program for the north shed's opening over lunch. We could meet at 1 pm in the mess, if that's also convenient for you. I'll keep a seat for you, if so."

He'd spoken without stopping, unaffected by Ronon and Amelia's dazed gazes.

They wondered how it was possible for him to keeping speaking for so long without pausing to draw breath.

When the technician had assimilated the stream of information she'd just been handed, she gave her most beautiful smile and put a hand on Chuck's shoulder. She hoped he was getting his breath back whilst he wasn't speaking.

"Thank you, Chuck. That was very thoughtful of you! I hope Newman doesn't bear a grudge, but I really need this time to unwind outside the base!"

"Oh… Hum… You're welcome, Amelia… But there's really no need to thank me, it was no trouble…" Chuck stammered his face coloring peony red.

"So, I'll see you in the Mess at 1 pm!"

"Ok, Amelia."

Chuck departed with a blissful smile. Ronon watched him going. Amelia noticed the look in his eyes and quietly exulted inside.

"See you later, Ronon!" she said, going into her room.

"Yeah… later…" the Satedan mumbled.

As he walked back to his quarters, Ronon found it difficult to contain his nervousness. He'd need to keep a very close eye on Chuck in the future…

OoooooO

Finding the door of Richard Woolsey's office open, McKay tumbled in in a fury.

Only Sheppard waited inside.

"Why must you persist in these continual disturbances, all the time! Have we been attacked? Is the City under imminent danger of explosion? Has Todd betrayed us? No! Am I stupid! We're 20 million light years from Pegasus!" Rodney had taken his most unpleasant tone to exclaim his acerbic monologue for the apparently absent Mr Woolsey.

Sheppard sighed.

"What happened to you, McKay…? You didn't have your breakfast this morning?"

"And, of course, Woolsey's not here!" Rodney rumbled, ignoring the lieutenant colonel in his annoyance.

Abruptly, the leader of the base appeared in the threshold. McKay turned swiftly and began in a roar:

"Ah! Finally! Do you even know what I'm working on at the moment? No? Well"

"Hold your tongue, Dr McKay and seat down at my desk. Sheppard, I'm afraid I must postpone the matter on which I wish to speak to you until a later date…"

Rodney, taken aback, fell silent and submitted without stumbling, moving toward a seat as instructed.

The scientist realized that for Woolsey's behavior to be so out-of-kilter with his usual manner, something had to be very wrong. He knew that his superior wasn't really livewire and, apparently, there was a problem which concerned him.

He settled down in front of the computer.

"There is a communication for you. It is your sister," Woolsey revealed simply.

This time, Rodney's words remained clamped in his throat. He couldn't have gotten them out if he had wanted to.

Sheppard and Woolsey retreated to watch the screen, anxiety etched into each of their faces.

Rodney started the communication and the haggard face of his sister, Jeannie, appeared in front of him.

She looked as though she'd been crying.

"Jeannie? What's the matter? Has something happened to you?" Rodney blurted in a rush, his voice rising with each words, too panic-stricken to marshal his questions into slowing down. He continued without leaving her the time to answer

"Is it Madison? My God! Tell me! Jeannie! Jeannie, please!"

Jeannie took her attention from her breathing and refocused it on Rodney, finally able to articulate herself after calming slightly.

"Meredith… It's about May. She had a heart attack."

The scientist's face fell suddenly.

_**TBC….**_

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*Citronovy_ : Czech for 'lemon'.


	2. Chapter 2: One for all and all for one

_**Thank you very much for the reviews ! **_

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Chapter 2: One for all and all for one**

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"Do you think McKay will be OK?"

Woolsey finished signing off on the permission for Rodney to travel back to Earth, and looked up to offer Sheppard his answer:

"I don't know, Colonel. He seemed very shocked. In the meantime, as I explained to you, the SGC is counting on you to attend this meeting in two weeks time with General O' Neill and the representatives of the IOA. You'll go with them to the review of the recent events, while I shall be in Washington."

"The IOA…" Sheppard muttered, his enthusiasm – or rather, his _lack_ of enthusiasm – evident in his voice. "Great!"

"Listen, I've not yet steered clear of their attempt to eliminate me of the leadership of Atlantis, but it is still their authority which we are under and we are obliged, therefore, to give them a warm welcome, whether it be sincere or not. By my reckoning, we should be able to count on O'Neill's support and helping hand… But we have to show that we're up for the job and that we _care_. We're not just going to allow them to make broad-sweeping decisions on the future of Atlantis without consulting us beforehand. Not on _my_ watch!"

Sheppard met his superior's gaze, smiling. Woolsey noticed his smile and threw him a skeptical glance.

"Is there a problem, Col. Sheppard? Are you having doubts about your ability to take this on? Do you think you won't be up to it?"

"No, it's not that Mr Woolsey." Sheppard remarked. "I'm pleased to see that you've really become one of us and a part of the City, now… Not that I doubted, even for a moment… I knew she'd win you over, in the end. She always does…" Still smiling, he nodded and turned toward the door.

As he left the office, the sound of the Stargate activating caught John's ear and he looked down to see what was happening. Kanaan was standing at the ready, waiting for the order to step through the Gate and join the SGC on Earth.

Sheppard thought about going to offer him a farewell when a disturbing detail made him change his mind. He stayed in the control room and watched the scene unfolding.

It appeared that Teyla and her lover were engaged in a stormy conversation at the foot of the staircase.

_A quarrel_… John thought.

Kanaan rested his hands on Teyla's shoulders but she freed herself of his hold by taking a slow step backward, out of his reach. She had crossed her arms and now dropped her eyes to the floor. Her face was closed, her emotions tightly guarded.

At a loss for how to reach her, Kanaan placed a quick kiss on her forehead and strode towards the Gate.

Without a glance towards the blue wave which had just swallowed him, the Athosian woman exited the room.

OoooooO

"Carson, you're absolutely _sure_ that you don't need me anymore?"

"It's kind of you, Jennifer, but you've already been of a very big help. The new treatment which you finalized on Atlantis seems to work and the patient's tumors have decreased by half since the last time that you came with your new serotherapy."

"Yes, but only those who were treated in time show signs of recovery! We've never been confronted with this kind of cancer before in Pegasus. Especially with a cancer which seems to be contagious! Tell me you've run tests on yourself and your team!"

"Jennifer," Carson assured her, "this disease seems only to have stricken the inhabitants of this planet. It is one of those abominable plagues imposed by the Ori against the peoples who refused to submit themselves. You can do nothing more than you have _already_ done, for the moment. Doctor Lam of the SGC has joined me. _Thank you_, Jennifer, for your help. You deserve a little relief after all these months of relentless work."

"I can try again to improve the dosage of interleukins," Jennifer began.

"You have to rest sometime, Jen!"

"Do not hesitate to call me back if you need me," she finally relented.

"I promise," Carson pledged. "I'll see you soon."

She smiled a little. Yes, of course, he was right. It wouldn't do to overload herself and burn out. She'd be of no use to anyone that way, and of no use to herself.

"Goodbye, Carson."

She ended the videoconference and was just about to head out, when Rodney appeared in the threshold of her office, his face dark.

She got to her feet slowly, her stomach twisting with worry at the look on his face and his rigid manner.

His gaze seemed somewhere else, far away, lost in the space between them, but not really there, either.

"Oh, Rodney, what has happened?"

OoooooO

"May? Who is she?" Teyla asked, putting down her glass of water.

"His aunt." John answered, grinding his mashed potatoes with his fork.

They'd gathered in the Mess for lunch. Teyla had been the first to arrive, joined a few minutes later by Ronon and Sheppard, their faces marked with worry. Seeing their expressions, she'd immediately felt anxiety grip her insides.

Sheppard had been the one to relay Rodney's bad news.

"She suffered a heart attack in a grocery store yesterday. Fortunately, help was fast. Jeannie contacted the SGC who relayed the message this morning to Atlantis. I assure you that I have never seen McKay like that!"

"She's a member of his family, John, it must be hard for him." Teyla sighed.

"Of course, Teyla, but I've never seen Rodney like this…" John explained. It was… awkward. Here was a side of the scientist that'd he'd never witnessed before today. It was… complicated, baffling, almost.

"Is she okay? The aunt, I mean…" Ronon asked, gobbling up half of his steak in a single mouthful.

"She's in observation at the hospital. Apparently she's stable. Jeannie went to visit, but wishes that McKay will join her as quickly as possible."

Without thinking, they glanced at the empty chair beside them.

"Where is Rodney now? Is he packing for the journey?" Teyla asked.

"No, he went to the Infirmary to see Jennifer. I think he'd like her to accompany him," Sheppard revealed.

"Don't you think Jennifer seems tired?" Teyla questioned. "It is something I have been noticing since she works on this cure for Carson."

"I noticed nothing," Ronon replied in his usual gruff manner.

"She is a little pale… but, on second thought, she does have to manage Mr. Rodney McKay almost all day, every day! It must be very tiring!"

A group of technicians entered the Mess. Among them were Amelia and Chuck, engaged in discussion and occasionally laughing.

Ronon watched their progress until they'd taken a table too far behind him to continue watching without turning in his seat.

Smiling, Teyla threw a knowing glance to Sheppard.

Ronon stabbed at the piece of meat on the plate in front of him violently.

"I was hoping Jen and Rodney might join us," Teyla commented, her tone trailing away slightly questioningly.

At the same moment, Jennifer and Rodney entered in the mess.

Teyla was surprised by the scientist's face. For as long as they'd known one another, it was the first time she could say she'd witnessed such an expression of dejection as was now gracing his features, save for the countless moments of crisis which their team had known during the last five years.

Dr Keller held his hand.

"Hi, everybody…" Rodney mumbled morosely.

As Jennifer and the doctor took their seats, Ronon noticed that Rodney held neither a tray, nor any meal to go with it.

"McKay! Aren't you eating today?"

Rodney, lost in his thoughts, gave little reaction to the Satedan's comment.

"Not hungry…" he simply answered.

Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon stared at him. MacKay! Not wanting to eat! It was unheard of! And, obviously, it means big problem!

Jennifer placed her free hand over Rodney's one.

"You should really try to have a little something, Rodney. I know this bad news has perturbed you, but… Think about your hypoglycemia…"

No lamentations… No acerbic retort… Sheppard looked at him with condolence.

McKay noticed and anticipated the possible questions.

"She's my mom's sister… She… well…" He fell short.

They were all silent, waiting.

"Jeannie and I would often go to see her in Whistler during the school holidays," he finished.

"Whistler?" Ronon asked.

"In British Columbia," McKay explained.

"In Canada," Sheppard added. "Nice place! It boasts the best ski resort in the whole of North America and there's…" he broke off mid-sentence at the murderous glance thrown by Jennifer Keller, "…a fabulous green… but, let's hear the rest of your story, McKay…" he added.

"She lives in a large chalet outside the city. Well, you know me, I am not a fanatic of nature, of any kinds of tiny creatures, at all, or the torments of the outdoor life, and that's without taking into account my multiple allergies: pollen, acarids… But, she always supported me in all that I undertook. She paid for part of my studies while she hadn't so much money. She is…"

He fell into a long silence, before resuming once more.

"She always knew that I… well, I wasn't made to be like the others, and I couldn't be like them all. She made light of it without making fun of it. With her, I had only to be 'Rodney'."

"You mean to say 'Meredith'…" Sheppard murmured, swallowing some bread.

Rodney began smiling, allowing the atmosphere to relax a little. Maybe he wasn't able to always find right words but everybody understood that this was a woman who was very important to him.

"I think that I speak in the name of everybody here in saying that if there is anything that you need, anything at all, that you can rely on us, Rodney," Teyla told him, slowly reaching out to place a hand on the scientist's shoulder.

"Thank you very much," Rodney said, acknowledging the offer. "Jennifer and I are leaving for Whistler. Jeannie is waiting for us both. We have so many things to put in order while May is at the hospital. Plus, I've yet to put my things together for the trip."

At that precise moment, Zelenka approached their table, surly-faced.

"Rodney, I'm waiting for you right now to verify my calculations on the flexible energy seclusion of the reactor…"

McKay got up and appeared to make an intense mnemonic effort to recall what Zelenka had just said.

"Oh! Yeah, Radek! Ah… it's not necessary… I believe you'll take charge of that very well," he said, clapping a hand to the Czech's arm.

He stepped away and made his way over to the exit, leaving a totally petrified Zelenka behind him. Pulling himself together, Zelenka revolved towards the group sitting at the table near him and articulated with difficulty:

"Had he been lobotomized?"

Without awaiting a response, he left the Mess, in turn. Jennifer lowered her eyes and played absently with the saltshaker.

"Rodney's gonna be OK, right?" John asked. "He doesn't seem really…"

"Normal…" Ronon finished for him.

"It's a terrible situation and it's been hard on him," Jennifer answered with a sad smile. "His parents are dead. May is the only member of his mother's family still alive. He needs us more than he wants to admit. I think this kind of event paralyzes him. You know Rodney… Expressing his feelings… Admitting to any weaknesses or shortcomings… These things are difficult for him…"

Teyla nodded her agreement. Sheppard rolled his eyes and Ronon emitted an affirmative 'grmpfff', his mouth full of French beans. Jennifer continued:

"His aunt lost her husband two years ago. She's living alone now in a great house in the middle of a forest. She never had children. She's a woman with a strong nature. Even if Rodney asserts that her neighbors wouldn't hesitate to pitch in a helping hand, the house is still in need of several small maintenance works. It's not the picture of an ideal predicament for a 75-year-old woman who absolutely doesn't want to hear about old people's homes. And now that she's sick, it's only going to go downhill from here." She gave a small sigh. "Jeannie and Rodney found a very good place for her but it won't be easy to convince her to go there."

"What's an old people's home? Ronon asked around a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"It is a place where the elderly live together and, if it is needed, where medical care can be administered," Jennifer explained.

"Oh…"

"Listen, if Rodney's OK with it, we could join you and, you know, maybe help out a little," John broached the idea that had been swimming around, niggling at him, for a while. "It's rather calm on Atlantis at the moment. There's the SGC's newest and brightest thinkers rummaging all over the place scrabbling to study the slightest hidden recesses of the City and I'm owed at _least_ three weeks of leave. If all we're talking about is a few days to put the house back into a little semblance of order while Rodney's aunt is staying in hospital, then there's no problem for me. Besides, I'd get a look around some of the countryside." When he'd finished outlining his offer, he glanced at his team mate.

Ronon agreed with a 'hum…', his mouth now full of chocolate mousse.

"If my presence is not overly problematic, I shall also wish to come with you," Teyla put in. "Of course, I will bring Torren with me. Going out of Atlantis to discover the continent will be very beneficial for us. And, of course, I would especially like to help Rodney, as the others have also expressed their desire to do so. It would only be a few days, and then I would return to New Athos. I am assured Kanaan will manage fluently to take charge of our people's most urgent affairs whilst awaiting my return, and the presence of the _Daedalus_ will be a very reassuring one to my people."

John did not dare to look at her. Apparently, he'd guessed rightly about their quarrel.

Jennifer's face lit up.

"Thank you all!" she gushed. "Thank you so very much! You're all so generous! I'll go tell Rodney immediately!"

"Eh! Wait, wait!" Sheppard interrupted. "If he prefers to manage alone, come and tell us, doc, OK?"

"No problem," Jennifer chirped. "You know what, I think Rodney will grumble on about how he doesn't need anybody, how he can go there alone, how there would be no problems, that with his IQ being so far above the common run of people, he and only he is the one best qualified to find the solution to this dilemma… blah… blah… blah… Well! You know _him_! But in his heart, I believe he'll be delighted, even if he can't bring himself to vocalize it."

OooooO

"Jennifer!" Rodney cried in appall. "I most _certainly_ can take care of the house _alone _for a few days while my aunt is away in hospital! I don't need the entire team holding my _hand_!"

Rodney went up and down through his bedroom, loading his gigantic blue suitcase with clothes he'd taken from his cupboard.

Jennifer, sitting on the bed, followed his ceaseless to-ing and fro-ing with a smile.

"Rodney, they're your best friends. They've seen how deeply your aunt's situation has moved you and they want to help! There are repairs to be done to the house that cannot be put off! Besides, even if you're a genius with Ancient generators and Asgard teleporters, you're not any good with basic manual work… no offense but I have difficulties imagining you chopping wood! Let alone sealing roves!"

"And you think that Sheppard would… chop wood… or… or seal a roof better than _I_ would, eh?" Rodney blustered. "According to Jeannie, there aren't many repairs to make anyway, just a few minor ones! …Of course, I know heights can make me dizzy sometimes, and I have sensitive hands because of my line of work, but in any case, if there _is_ a problem with the roof, we'll sure be able to _call_ someone for help! It's not as though Whistler was short of… of… craftsmen! It's a big town, not a wee camp site or some squatter's encampment! And, as for the wood… same thing!"

"RODNEY!" Jennifer exclaimed a bit irritated. "They're offering you, _us_, their help! It's very generous of them. They really care about you. Don't you _see_ that?"

Rodney threw his head to one side.

"But the house is too small… it's too far out of town… We couldn't all sleep there, and I'm not quite ready to ask May's permission… You don't know her… She can be ridiculously bad-tempered sometimes."

Finishing his rant, Rodney began to methodically fill the vacant spaces of his suitcase with an assortment of small black cases he'd taken from his desk.

"I thought you told me that there were _five_ bedrooms in the house…" Jennifer complained, after a long moment of careful recollection. "And if May _is_ OK with it, Teyla can sleep with Torren; Jeannie will of course sleep alone, and Ronon and John could share a room, and… and… we…"

McKay abruptly gave up his attempt to force his suitcase shut and stared at Jennifer with a soft gaze.

"We… will share the coziest one…" Jennifer whispered in a mischievous tone, getting up from the bed and slowly joining the scientist whose thoughts were suddenly filled with Jennifer and the special magic that she brought to him.

They were less than a centimeter apart when Ronon's head appeared in the doorway of the room.

"So, McKay, when are we leaving?" the Satedan asked in a bizarrely joyful manner.

At the sight of a 'smiling Ronon', Rodney's thoughts scattered and he began shuffling his feet towards an item he'd suddenly noticed he'd left out on the floor and really couldn't be left behind.

"Well… hum… in three hours… but…"

"Listen, I was thinking, maybe I could ask for one more person to come with us? You'll need people to help around the house and she sure makes a delicious coffee…"

"_She_?" McKay and Jennifer said at once, sharing identical glances of surprise.

OooooO

Amelia left the Mess, escorted by Chuck. When Ronon arrived, striding steadily to meet her, everybody deviated from their courses along the corridor to allow him passage. He stopped in front of the young lady without sparing even a single glance to her male colleague.

"Amy, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"We're in a bit of a hurry. We still have a lot of work to be done before Amy goes on holiday,"

Chuck interrupted, seemingly oblivious to the risk he was taking if he was to upset the larger man.

Perhaps fortunately, Ronon continued to ignore him.

"Hum… Of course, Ronon…Chuck, I'll join you in the control room shortly," the young lady offered absently, rooted to the spot by the Satedan's deep green eyes.

Chuck made a show of walking away, but at a leisurely enough pace so that he would still be able to hear what was being said between Amelia and Ronon.

"OK, well… Rodney has some family troubles at the moment. His aunt is sick and he needs people willing to help him to take charge of her… ch-chalet… in Canada. I thought… I remembered you speaking of wanting to unwind somewhere… away from Atlantis, and I thought that… maybe… you would like to come with us to Canada."

Amelia stared at him. He waited for her answer, but she just went on staring, not even moving a bit.

"But, you know," he added quickly, "if you'd already made other plans… I… I'd understand… Because, apparently there'll be some work to do, and then there'll be McKay, his sister, Sheppard, Teyla, Torren, Jennifer and…"

"And you…" Amelia ended for him with a small smile.

Now that he had said it, Ronon took the time to breathe.

Chuck's face had suddenly fell:

"It's freezing cold in Canada at the moment. You know that you have fragile bronchi, Amy…" Chuck pronounced his colleague's first name in an exaggerated way. It spoke volumes of his understanding of what Ronon was attempting to bring to light. "If you were to fall ill, you couldn't keep up with your job and that would raise problems in the vacation planning. Besides, the program you've began working on is of the most importance for the city".

His patience reaching its limits, Ronon turned swiftly and close the small distance between him and Chuck. To his own discomfort, the latter suddenly became aware that his nose could barely reach the Satedan's chest...

Ronon then told him in his most threatening tone.

"Well, in that case, _you_ would be able to easily replace her, _Chuck_."

Chuck casted an imploring glance at Amelia who had difficulties trying not to burst out laughing. Upset to see her apparent delight at his being publicly demeaned, he rushed off without a word.

"If I can help, it will be with pleasure…" Amelia finally answered Ronon, gazing at him with stars in her eyes.

_**TBC…**_


	3. Chapter 3: A very acute old lady

_**Thank you very much to sagey, mmkfire, Jen, and Dani. 104 visitors for the chapter 2 and only 4 reviews...**_

**

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Chapter 3: A very acute old lady **

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The van sped along the highway, lined with grayish snowdrifts. The cloudless sky had brightened by morning's close. At the back of the car, sitting next to Jennifer, Rodney was grumbling.

"McKay!" John complained. "Stop sulking! You were unbearable on the plane to Vancouver!"

"Sheppard, we're going to _my_ aunt's house!" McKay bit back. "_I_ allowed _you_ to come… You have no right to treat me like this!"

"I don't like to be annoyed when I drive, it's only fair. I _know_ where I'm going and I don't need you to stress on me every two minutes about speed limits, or to change radio stations nonstop. By the way, the next exit is still ten kilometers away so please stop telling I have to turn right… Banks is a much more pleasant co-pilot than you are!"

Teyla turned around to face Keller.

"Do you feel better, Jennifer?" she asked.

"Yes, Teyla…" Jennifer answered. "Thank you… My stomach didn't really appreciate the last few series of turbulences on the plane."

After a couple of minutes of restful silence, the scientist muttered again:

"_Could_ you turn up the heating! My toes are frozen!"

"Just admire the landscape, McKay."

Rodney grumbled in a low voice but John turned up the volume on the radio.

Next to him, Amelia raised the zip of her anorak, slightly anxious. She thought she'd have felt much more comfortable if Rodney and John hadn't been bickering quite so much. She wasn't afraid that they could have an accident; She just thought the constant exchange of bickers was unnecessary.

Determined to remain light hearted, she tried to set her mind on better thoughts: _everyone should have taken warmer coats_, she reflected. This November was shaping up to be the coldest in ten years. She suppressed a sigh. It hadn't exactly lightened her mood. _At least I tried_, she thought.

Ronon and Teyla, seated in the middle of the van, were looking at the landscape with delight. Along the provincial highway 99, they could see magnificent fjords overhung by snowy high mountains. The fir tree forest was adorned by a thick white coat, a sign that winter had already well and truly set in. Then, after several ascents and successive descents, in the bend of a hillside, a succession of lakes appeared. The reflection of the sun on the water made their calm surfaces glitter with a multitude of iridescent dots. Amelia felt warm inside, as if the magic of the sight had charmed her.

"It's beautiful…" she murmured earnestly.

"A forest… _Again_… Delightful! I forgot how much this place looks like the majority of the planets of the Pegasus! Except, oh, _yes_, it's icy cold, then there's the snow, the fir trees, the bears and the wapitis; I mustn't forget the _wapitis_," Rodney replied.

"Can we hunt here?" Ronon asked, suddenly very interested.

"On Earth, you need a license for that, except when you're face to face with a grizzly bear. In that case, I think that you could say it was self-defense," Sheppard replied.

"Grizzlies?" Jennifer wondered. "I thought they hibernated in winter."

Rodney, not losing any opportunity to showcase his knowledge of Ursidians, launched into a masterful monologue on the fact that, rather, it was a "pseudo-hibernation", and that, if disturbed, grizzly bears could wake up and attack…Though it was only really Jennifer who was listening to him. Torren floundered cheerfully on his mother's knees and played with the sling that had been matched with the small red anorak that Sheppard had chosen for him. Ronon began fiddling with the collar of his pullover in annoyance.

"What's wrong, Ronon?" Sheppard finally asked.

"The clothes that you found me… I don't understand why all the clothes from Earth have these sorts of small labels sewn inside! It scratches and it's irritating! I prefer, by far, those which I exchange on P6M-292!"

"Made from buffalo hide!" McKay replied on an ironic tone. Apparently he had stopped his zoology lesson.

Ronon turned around towards him throwing him a furious glance. McKay sank deep into his seat and changed his approach:

"Oh, but it is very becoming!" He faltered, "A little bit rustic but very becoming, particularly on you!"

The tortured lines of a bluish glacier appeared in front of them, twisting in the middle of the coniferous forest. Jennifer shuffled closer to Rodney and put her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and began to nap, listening to the background noise of the conversations. Suddenly, Rodney's mobile phone rang, startling her. Everybody fell silent. A shadow passed over the scientist's face when he answered.

"Jeannie? Yes. We've passed Brackendale…"

"…"

"You're at the hospital, OK. And May, how is she?"

"…"

Rodney sighed, visibly relieved.

"Very well! That's a good sign!"

"…"

"_Try_ to _tell_ her to take some rest. We'll join you as soon as possible!" Rodney's face relaxed as he put away his mobile phone. "She's OK," he announced to his friends, who, throughout the entire conversation, had remained silent.

Torren began roaring, and, after a bend, everybody finally saw the white rooves of Whistler.

OoooooO

"I want to go for a walk!"

"Aunt May, go back to your bed!"

Jeannie Miller tried in vain to encourage the old lady back to her bed when Rodney entered the room, followed by Jennifer.

"Heavens above, Rodney! You're _here_! I have to be dying so that you'll finally come and see me!" May rid herself of her niece's assistance with a short movement of her arm, and, with small, fast steps she joined McKay, a frail hand clutching the pole with the intravenous drip bag hanging from it, pulling it along behind her.

"Damn!" she said, taking Rodney's face between her hands. "Do they not feed you in the army? You're as thin as a rake!"

She hugged him with her frail arms. Rodney returned the embrace and when she finally released him, she touched her nephew's cheek with her gnarled hand and smiled at him.

"You're a good boy, my son…"

In front of this small silvery-haired woman, the scientist remained strangely silent. For the first time, Jennifer, who was standing a step behind, found Rodney truly moved. Meredith Rodney McKay's eyes moistened slightly. He was ten years old again…

OoooooO

Ronon paced the corridor in front of May's room. Sheppard and Teyla followed his progress with their eyes, standing motionless against the partition. Amelia was carrying Torren in her arms while the little boy was toying with a lock of her hair.

Feeling tired and worn, Ronon suddenly stopped his pacing and leaned on the wall next to her.

"I don't like hospitals," he murmured grimly.

"Me neither," she answered.*

Suddenly, the door of the room opened and Jennifer appeared on the threshold.

"She wants to see you," she whispered.

"All of us?" Sheppard asked. "You know, she should really get some rest. And we should…"

From inside the room, a scraggy but authoritarian voice reached them, cutting off the lieutenant colonel's sentence.

"Come in, boys! Let me see you all!"

One by one, they entered the room. They found May lying in bed with Rodney sitting by her side.

Jeannie was settled in a seat near the window. The old lady seemed to be tired even if she tried to hide it behind a radiant smile. Her grey hair was tied into a long plait which fell against her left shoulder.

"Well! Introduce your friends to me, Rodney! Such an impolite thing you've become!"

McKay submitted, evading, of course, the fact that two of his companions were native to another galaxy… In his new-and-improved rendition, Ronon had become a liaison officer who worked with the US Army to strengthen the links of co-operation with New Zealand (Rodney had been lacking in inspiration), and Teyla had been catapulted physicist's assistant.

Jennifer had already had her moment of glory, approved of as 'a very beautiful girl and _a_ doctor' by the enthusiastic Aunt May.

The old lady took in the details of each of them from head to toe, her gaze coming to rest, finally, on John.

"Tell me," she asked gently, "are all of the lieutenant colonels as cute as you are?"

"You flatter me," answered Sheppard, apparently amused by May's boldness.

"I've been a widow for two years!"

"Aunt May!" Rodney growled.

"I'm still _not_ blind, Rodney! This boy is simply charming!" answered the old lady.

The physicist raised his eyes to the ceiling. His aunt was incorrigible!

"I'm a curious man, May," Sheppard began. "Since we've been here you've called your nephew 'Rodney'. I thought his first name was Meredith!"

"You call him 'Meredith'?" May cried, appalled. "All of you? My God, I'd always maintained that his parents were drunk when they named him! You know, I love my sister, but my brother-in-law has always been an eccentric! Anyway, I hope that you've been treating my nephew well, because there's really no need to make fun of him with that silly old thing. I know that he can be painful sometimes but…"

Ten qualifiers, much more apt than 'painful', suddenly popped in Sheppard's mind, but he decided, at length, that it would be inopportune, and potentially inappropriate, to express this opinion.

McKay opened his mouth to protest when his aunt added:

"Nevertheless, he is a good boy! Along with Jeannie, they're like my own children! And you, too, seem to be a good man."

Again, when Rodney wanted to add a comment, he was interrupted by his aunt.

"This baby boy has the same eyes as yours," May remarked to Sheppard while glancing softly at Torren. "He's _adorable_! You're a very cute family!" Then, she looked at Teyla.

Under the fond glance of the old lady, the Athosian and the military both found themselves where speechless for brief moment. Rodney gallantly came to their aid.

"Hum… Teyla and John aren't… together. I mean, John's not Torren's father…"

"Oh," May responded, disappointment clear in her voice.

The little boy watched the old lady with his round, cheerful eyes and suddenly held out his hands toward her. May offered him her most beautiful smile and, with a glance, enquired with Teyla if she'd be allowed to hold Torren for just one moment. The Athosian accepted with pleasure.

On May's knees, the little boy began twittering, looking at the old lady with his big brown eyes.

"And you two, are you together?" May asked now of Ronon and Amelia.

Everybody turned their head toward the pair, waiting to hear their answers.

"Hum… No… We're not… together…" Amelia stammered, with an embarrassed smile.

"What are you waiting for, my boy?" May exclaimed, looking at the Satedan.

A collective chuckle followed May's last words. It was the first time that somebody had called Ronon 'my boy'! Amelia went bright red. Ronon remained silent, a discreet smile finding its way onto his face. He shared a complicit glance with the older woman.

"Well, if I have understood the situation correctly, it is only my Rodney who is about to be married!" May commented.

Jennifer almost choked; Rodney rolled his eyes. It was by their reactions which May understood that her remarks had put them all ill-at-ease. Ah! These young people! Everything seemed to be so complicated between them! Unspoken, languishing glances – all this frustration!

Jeannie got up then and decided it would be best to broach a new subject.

"Aunt May, now that Rodney is here, we need to talk about the old people's home in Vancouver."

The old woman's eyes ignited. Her face took on an expression of profound anger.

"Never!" she declared fiercely. "I won't leave Whistler! I'm happy here! Rodney, Tell her that I can stay here, in _my home_!"

Rodney answered with a sigh:

"May, you can't stay in this isolated big chalet. If you don't want to go to this institute, just think about Sarah's proposition. She has already agreed to rent you a room. You would be in town, she would take care of you, and we would be reassured."

"And my house?" May replied, fighting back a protest.

Rodney hesitated before answering:

"You could… sell it…" The scientist searched for Sheppard's help; John deflated and moved back against the wall. Ah! In front of the Wraith, no problem! But in front of a 75-year-old lady as stubborn as a mule, not on his life!

"_Never_! Do you hear _me_!" May exclaimed. "I'll take death before giving up my home!"

_TBC..._

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* In a previous fic, "Small party between girls", I talked about a car accident and about the death of Amelia's family members. This idea come from a really good fic written by journeyman07 "Who cares?".

** I've got a video on YT to illustrate this fic: my pseudo: missApoptosis


	4. Chapter 4: The curse of the Thunderbird

_**Thanks to the reviewers : Sagey, Dani, Jen, Hifield and Terri. And thanks to the readers. I don't want to forget Codzwallop and Planet P, my betas ! Thanks for this chapter! You can also read Codzwallop's "Shweir/Sparky" stories on this site. It's very good. Now, chap****ter**** 4...**** Love is in the air...****  
**_

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Chapter 4: The Curse of the Thunderbird**

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"I honestly don't know what to do with her! You heard what she said! You all heard! Didn't you?"

They were having lunch at a small snack bar not far from the hospital. Wishing to discuss something with May's doctor, Jennifer had stayed behind. McKay's appetite seemed to have returned, for the most part, even if his face remained tellingly, doggedly downcast. His aunt's downright refusal was a problem; and, if not irksome, somewhat wearing.

"You should try again to convince her," Sheppard answered. "I get it when she says that she doesn't want to leave the chalet she's spent her entire life living in."

"She could rent the house instead of selling it," added Jeannie. "That will allow her to pay Sarah to care for her. She's refused to come and live with Caleb, Maddie and I…"

"Why don't we take her to Atlantis…"

"What!" Rodney cried in an exclamation of horror. "You're joking! It's a joke, right, Ronon?"

"It will be fun to have her in the City," the Satedan replied.

Jeannie, Amelia, Teyla and John smiled to this last remark. McKay's face reddened.

"OK, first off, it's unthinkable that the IOA would give their agreement and, secondly, can you see me telling her about what I _really_ do – Hey, yes, and aliens are real, no kidding, I'm not just saying this for kicks, you know, or in jest, none at all – and, oh wait, the Wraith; the big, bad threat pressing on the galaxy! My aunt can be _terrible_! You have no _idea_! You can't possibly have! She'll spend whole _days_ complaining and whining, complaining and whining, and complaining and whining again, just to get her point across that she wanted to go _here_, or _there_, when you didn't want to, or it wasn't _safe_ to! Put as delicately as possible, she's a maniac! She's stubborn, she's always _right_-! You know, I think I'm starting to pity Sarah!"

"Ah, and your colorful description doesn't bring to mind anyone else?" Sheppard suggested, casting an amused glance towards his companions.

At these words, Jennifer appeared in the doorway of the room and came to join them, striding toward them purposefully.

"So?" McKay asked her expectantly.

"They're going to keep her in for a few days still," Keller relayed, sitting down in a chair near to Rodney's. "She's hoping, then, to return home to make her decision on the house. A follow-up visit to the cardiologist is scheduled for next week. She… chewed over a lot but she agreed to us staying at the chalet. She said it would simply be unacceptable if we were to go to a hotel."

"Meredith," Jeannie spoke up, "We should leave for the chalet as soon as possible to get you all settled in."

"You're not staying with us, Jeannie?" Sheppard asked, perhaps a little surprised.

"No, I'm not," Jeannie replied. "I'd prefer to stay in town and keep an eye on May. One of her friends, Caroline, suggested that I stay with her, at her house. I'll come out with you to the chalet but I'll leave again before nightfall. I'll drop by tomorrow morning to bring some additional groceries."

After they'd finished up lunch at the snack bar, they stopped by at a local supermarket to buy food and a few other miscellaneous items; Rodney lingered beside Jennifer; he noticed that she'd begun to shuffle wearily, not quite lifting her feet enough as she walked down the aisles with him.

"Jennifer? Are you OK?" he asked, frowning. "I know I've been a bit distant for a couple of days, and it's really not been fair to you, and it's inexcusable-"

"Rodney," Jennifer exclaimed, "I understand!" What a silly thought! There was nothing that he had to be sorry for.

"I saw you with one of the doctors at the hospital earlier…"

"I wanted to know more details on your aunt's medical file; I asked for a blood test for me, too. I think I'm just lacking vitamins at the moment, that's all; I may have been slightly overworking myself lately."

"Oh! I shouldn't have asked you to come along…"

"Rodney! Everything is OK!" Jennifer cried in exasperation. "And it was me who suggested coming, don't you remember? I'm _so_ happy to be here with you."

She took his hand in hers warmly. And he gently draped his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm happy, too, Jen," he told her softly, slightly overwhelmed; it was hard to keep his voice from wavering, but keeping his voice low helped.

OoooooO

The rental car Jeannie had hired, a pick-up truck, was spacious enough to welcome them all – wide bench seats had replaced the conventional ones – and they had easily gone through the small mountain roads leading up to May's chalet. They drove about ten kilometers along on the road to Pemberton and then they turned off onto a road leading northwest to take more narrow roads. The house was indeed snuggled up in the heart of the forest. The car snow-tires tore up the layer of compacted snow on the path. The journey from town to May's chalet took about twenty minutes, and the travelers arrived in front of their future holiday resort.

"Wow!" Sheppard exclaimed.

"It's a _huge_ house!" Amelia added.

Set as the centerpiece to a small clearing in the forest of trees, the chalet rose two stories into the sky from the forest floor. Standing on the verandah, one could see a hillock of logs rested on an old ruined bench; firewood to stave off the Canadian chill. The shutters remained open; May's illness had been sudden and unexpected. Gleaming garlands of translucent stalactites hung above the rail of the porch, from the ceiling. Aside from a small barn probably used as a garage, most of the roofing needed repair. On the left side of the barn roof one could see a large hole though. A thick layer of snow covered the ground around the house, shining under the gaze of the winter sun.

Rodney made his way to the front door. The key turned with difficulty in the lock of the massive wooden door and he had to use his shoulder to open it totally, giving it a bit of a nudge. Then, standing on the threshold, a bouquet of familiar smells tickled his nostrils… A sweet perfume of resin, honey, dried flowers and old books… He slowly moved to the middle of the cold wet room, followed by the rest of his friends; it was freezing inside.

The main room was spacious. In front of them, in the lounge, two big sofas sat like sleeping lions, circling a square green-gingham armchair, May's chair. A heap of ashes lay in the impressive stone fireplace. Ronon retraced his steps out to the porch and returned with firewood in his arms to prepare a fire.

Between the sofas and the armchair, a huge wooden suitcase acted as coffee table.

The room extended towards a small dining room and a kitchen, well equipped with both furnishings and appliances, where Amelia and Jennifer set the groceries down.

"I don't remember any of this being here before; is it new?" Rodney queried his sister who, by the look on her face seemed as amazed at the sight of the fresh thoroughly modern kitchen that lay before them as her brother was.

Before them, the new kitchen sported a convection oven, and an induction cooker had replaced the old range where, as a child, Rodney had burned his fingers so many times.

A large, fair staircase of polished wood climbed up to the first floor where bedrooms were aligned along a mezzanine looking out onto the lounge. Jennifer raised her eyes towards the gigantic library which hid the entire wall of the lounge room. John and Amelia brought in their luggage and Jeannie invited them to find their respective bedrooms.

"May's one is on the ground floor," Jeannie explained. "You're welcome to choose a bedroom on the first floor but I'd advise that the boiler be cranked up to its maximum capacity – it's absolutely _freezing_!"

"Oh, the heating's no problem!" Rodney supplied, his face showing a strange flush of pride. "Don't you worry about that!" He bent down and retrieved his bag from the floor by his boots, and took out six small cube-shaped black boxes. Each of them contained a small rectangular device. "All right," he said while handing one to his perplexed friends. He continued:

"They're a little invention of my own; miniature heating systems, if you will. Well, yes, I can see your skeptical frowns; of course, they're not entirely of my own invention; the basic principle is essentially Ancient. For my part, I merely _thought_ of miniaturizing one of our city's generators which transforms naquadah energy into calories. It's very simple, you switch it on _here_, you adjust the temperature _here_… you find somewhere relatively safe to place it in your bedroom and, in less than ten minutes, you find yourself lazing in a 23°C bedroom"

"A mini _naquadah_ generator?" Sheppard wondered, turning the object over in his hands, once, twice; repeating the action. "When did this happen?"

"Well, even _you_ would admit that most of the planets we've been visiting during our off-world missions weren't very welcoming. I mean, the tents and caves we usually sleep in were often quite uncomfortable… And my natural sensitivity to the cold gave me the idea to create thoses little thingies!"

He smirked a little, quite pleased with himself.

"Thanks for sharing your little secret, McKay!" Sheppard remarked; his voice humorous, but its edge dry. "Though, it would have been _nice_ of you to have shared this 'little invention' with the rest of us when _we_ were the ones sharing the uncomfortable caves _with you_!"

"You know," Rodney added, "it wasn't completely perfected… It's only been two months since I have been able to calibrate them correctly"

"How'd you manage to get them through the airport?"

"You're joking, Sheppard! The Ancients managed to hide an entire city! Do you really think that I would not be able to conceal six _small_ boxes?"

"Come on, McKay, how would you have explained yourself if customs had discovered them in your luggage?" John asked, shocked at his friend's audacity and pompous disregard for airport security. Rodney should have been more careful, e_specially_ since the new anti-terror laws had come into effect.

"Did I mention that they also have a function which works as a clock and radio alarm?"

OoooooO

Suppressing the urge to moan at her older brother's antics, Jeannie announced her departure. She was eager to return to town and be near May in case something came up. With the farewells kept to a minimum, Jeannie was soon driving back along the road they had come in on from Whistler; she left the radio off, she was far too nervous.

The rest of the day passed quickly, as excitement and intrigue often played out the hours. Having estimated the damages, the small troop divided up the tasks. Ronon had been allocated to chopping the wood; Jennifer, Amelia and Teyla had decided to clean the house. And Torren, sat on the lounge's carpet, was having fun playing with a small wooden train Rodney had dug out from an old cobwebbed cupboard.

Sheppard had dragged Rodney away; the pair was heading outside to repair the barn roof.

"I'm _dizzy_!" the physicist roared in frustration and then anger, as he blindly stretched out a hammer towards John who was a bar or so above him on a ladder. Rodney was only on the fifth bar of that ladder, but his fear of heights made the sixth one quite difficult to reach.

"Come up properly, McKay! I can't reach the hammer!" John twisted above him, his feet propped against the edge. It would have safer and easier with a rope attached between both of them and the roof, but unfortunately they had not been able to find any rope. They were playing dangerous…

"And open your eyes, _please_! I'm more on your left!"

"This _ladder_ is unstable! I'm going to fall!" Fear filled Rodney's voice, though, it wasn't all that rare with McKay: there were a lot of things that didn't turn his fancy, a lot of things that frightened him.

"Come on, _McKay_, it's not Mount Everest you're climbing on!"

At that moment, Teyla stepped down from the porch, coming out of the house to shake out an old blanket. Seeing her two friends bickering – as _always_ – she was unable to suppress a small bout of laughter.

Amelia showed up behind her.

"We should be able to cook something special tonight! I guess everybody's going to be very hungry!" She said, throwing a glance towards Ronon who, a little farther away from the house, handled the chainsaw with an undisguised pleasure.

From inside the house, Torren's roars of laughter floated out. He'd just discovered a small door in the side of one of his train's carriages.

"He's grown up so much in two months! It must have been a little baffling to find him so changed when Kanaan and he returned to the City. It's a pity his father had to leave again so fast."

Teyla did not answer. Amelia suddenly felt she had tackled a delicate subject; she should have reflected before speaking rashly; she decided to apologize:

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be indiscreet."

"No, Amelia," Teyla interjected, "it is quite OK. It is just that… before Kanaan left for New Athos, He and I quarreled."

Jennifer slowly approached her friends. She'd heard the beginning of their conversation; for a moment, she stood without speaking, seeking permission to join them. Teyla smiled at her and continued her story.

"We had agreed, after Torren's birth, that I would continue the off-world missions with Sheppard's team despite the risks."

"And now he's changed his mind?" Keller posed shyly.

"It would seem that way, yes," the Athosian whispered. "I love Kanaan. We've known each other since we were children. A very strong link bind us and our son proves that…" She paused, thinking, or perhaps reminiscing.

Jennifer and Amelia waited silently for the continuation.

"I want to help my people; I _do_! But I do not want to leave the team either…"

Teyla wasn't talking about all the members of the team though, and her stare was off into the distance, to the barn roof. Amelia and Jennifer noticed the direction of her gaze and shared a look.

"It must be hard to choose between... both options..." Amelia sympathized.

Contrary to Jennifer, Teyla did not notice the double meaning in Amelia's reply. The two females weren't blind and had discovered long ago that Teyla was fond of John. Maybe more than fond off indeed…

"Kanaan present me with an ultimatum before he departed. I cannot accept it!"

Ronon, arms laden with the logs he had sawed, was coming their way and entered the house. Having left the logs near the fireplace, he came out on the porch.

"So, ladies," he said, "what's for dinner tonight?"

Amelia halfheartedly threw a filthy duster at him. He avoided it with a bark of laughter, and jumped over the rail to join John and Rodney.

"You're ogling," Jennifer murmured to Amelia, teasing. She'd noticed Amelia's gaze lingering on Ronon.

"Have you finally gotten together?" Teyla asked, happy that the conversation had finally turned to someone else.

"I've decided to go slowly," Amelia answered. "What about you, Jennifer? How is it going with Rodney?"

The doctor leant against one of the porch's posts and sighed.

"Everything's all right," she replied.

Teyla heard the reserve and tiredness in Keller's voice. She could tell her friend was holding something back. Also, giving the expression in Amelia's eyes, it seemed the Athosian wasn't the only one needing convincing.

Jennifer noticed her friends had not been fooled and decided to tell them the truth:

"Doctor Beckett and I worked a lot on that Ori disease for a month. I was worried about my patients so I spent all my energy working on a utopian remedy. This new kind of cancer is a _horrible_ plague…"

Jennifer felt her hands start to shake a little, but as she looked down at them the trembling seemed indiscernible.

"Do the patients suffer much?" Amelia asked.

"Oh, Yes, regrettably… It begins with fatigue, dizzy spells, disorientation, loss of appetite, anemia, etc. At this point, metastases have already invaded the body. Death quickly follows; it only takes a few…" her throat stuck, suddenly too dry and causing her voice to waver before she could continue, sucking in a hiccupping gulp of air, "…d-days! And it's contagious. I've never seen anything like it before. I ended up with a treatment but I needed to be _sure_ I had done my best. These people deserved it: _nobody_ deserves to suffer what the Ori have unleashed! I've spent many sleepless nights in my lab these last few weeks, trying to understand this virus cycle from patient's biopsies." She was on the edge of crying now.

"Maybe you've been too heavily involved in this, Jennifer," Amelia suggested.

"This isn't a job for just one person; it's a job for a whole team. You really should get inside and get some rest…" Teyla suggested trying not aggravating Jennifer's delicate state.

"Rodney needs me now more than ever," Jennifer tried desperately.

"You do seem very tired, Jennifer," Teyla eased again. "Has Rodney not noticed this? You have been overdoing things."

"There's no need to worry, girls," Jennifer assured them, "I _promise_ you both that I'll seize every opportunity during our stay to recover my strengths. I asked for a blood test earlier today at the hospital. The results should come back tomorrow morning. I'm sure I just need to take a little magnesium! That's _all_! Don't worry, I'm fine!" A note of humor touched her voice as she continued, "_yes_, I'm tired and overworked, but, that I can recover from!"

She smiled softly. The sound of loud voices along with loud, crunching footsteps across the snow drew the women's attention. The three men were coming their way, Ronon in the front while John and Rodney were arguing.

"It wasn't impossible! You see!" John declared in amusement.

"You're joking!" Rodney gasped, offended. "I almost broke my neck!"

Stopping in front of the women, Sheppard exclaimed cheerfully:

"Well, mission accomplished! The barn's good as new again! I couldn't help but notice a snowmobile inside; it seems operational. We could take it for a ride tomorrow, what do you think?"

The offer was clearly directed at Teyla but, at the last moment, he turned his head in Amelia's direction.

"Banks? Are you interested?"

The Athosian's face closed over before she dropped her head. Nobody could tell for sure if she was hurt or not, though suddenly the snowy ground seemed to have attracted all her attention. The change in her attitude didn't go unnoticed. Ronon seemed puzzled and was staring at Sheppard stonily. And Amelia looked surprised but politely accepted the invitation.

"Excellent!" Sheppard exclaimed. "Ah, let's get inside; it'll be dark soon!"

As the others followed John inside the house, Teyla lingered for a moment on the porch. some new strange feeling had appeared in her heart as Sheppard had invited Amelia, a ferocious feeling: Jealousy. Trying to calm the new sensation, she took a deep breath.

OooooO

"A curse?" Sheppard burst out laughing. "Are you delirious, McKay? You're sure you're feeling all right? I mean, you're a scientist, you can't possibly believe curses exist! Come on, you're the most rational guy in the galaxy. Wait, no, in the universe!"

The atmosphere around the table was cheerful and festive. Teyla and Amelia had prepared a delicious meal and, as expected, the boys had eaten as much as an entire army. In contrast, Jennifer had hardly touched her plate. Nobody, it seemed, had been paying much attention, however. The attention was firmly fixed on Rodney.

Amelia sat between Ronon and Sheppard, who'd chosen his seat only because, that way, Teyla would be sitting directly opposite him. Pressed by his companions, Rodney set about telling tales of his worst childhood memories here in Whistler.

"Well," he began modestly, "I was thirteen. My sister and I had come down for the summer holidays, as we did every year. The day of our arrival, I had the misfortune of meeting this rather nasty youngster…"

Torren slept quietly on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket. So as not to wake him, Rodney lowered his voice to continue:

"…Ernie Matthews's nephew. Ernie owns a small hut three or four kilometers to the north. He's a Squamish Indian."

"You're going to blame the Native Americans, Rodney?" Sheppard jumped in; not sure whether to be surprised or outraged: his best friend never harbor any kind of ill sentiment towards anyone before.

"Of course _not_, Sheppard," retorted a rather irritated Rodney. "Where was I already? Ha yeah, one day, this nasty kid wants me to give him my Albert Einstein figurine"

"Your what?" Sheppard gasped, his face splitting into a huge grin despite that he'd almost choked on the mouthful of tart he'd just lifted to his mouth. Jennifer and Amelia, on the other hand, made the biggest effort ever not to explode into laughters. Rodney was visibly hurt.

"It was part of a collection!" he defended himself. "_Anyway_… In exchange, he offered me the knife he used to dismember marmots!"

"An appropriate trade," Ronon remarked.

"And?" Teyla pressed, amused by this story.

"_And_, I turned him down. But the worst part I that villainous boy cursed me, he said that every time I returned here the anger of the thunderbird would come down on me. Horrible kid, you see. And you know what? At the end of the summer, first I broke my leg coming down the staircase and second a giant wasp attacked me! I almost died of anaphylactic shock!"

"Hum you're right, McKay, you are cursed!" Ronon chuckled.

"What about the next summer? Did anything happen _then_?" Amelia asked.

"We never came back," Rodney answered, his voice trailing away to glumness.

"Just out of curiosity, what was the name of this diabolical kid?" Sheppard asked.

"Damn, I can't even remember!" Rodney frowned in concentration. "Mick… No, it was Dick… Or maybe Buck… Or Tuck!"

"In short, if the roof collapses on our heads tonight, it'll be your fault! All because of a stupid curse! What a wonderful prospect! I can't wait to go to sleep" John grinned, and with that he raised his glass towards the scientist. "Cheers!"

OooooO

"I'm sorry about earlier, Ronon, I know you're interested in Amelia"

"Rodney calls it having 'intentions' on…"

"Yeah, well… I'm sorry… You should be the one to take her for a ride tomorrow; I'll go for a stroll around town."

Both men lay side by side in the big bed, their eyes fixed to the ceiling overhead. Outside, the snow was falling more and more forcefully. Rodney's heating boxes had done a marvelous work filling all the bedrooms with comfortable warmth.

"What is it there is between you and Teyla?" Ronon asked.

Sheppard took his time to answer. Finally, he said

"There's nothing special."

"Yeah, and there's Kanaan." Ronon pointed out.

"I know, Ronon. What's your point?"

"Sheppard, you and Teyla are my friends, my family. What's going on between the two of you could jeopardize the welfare of the team, no matter how hard you try to hide it…"

Sheppard waited again before saying anything. Then, after a few minutes, his voice finally broke the heavy silence of the dark room.

"Amelia and you, is it serious?"

"…"

"She's different from Jennifer."

"Different, indeed… So what?"

"Well, after my divorce I went out with a very nice and attractive girl; but she was the extreme opposite of Nancy's personality! Under normal circumstances, this girl would never have interested me; she was not at all my 'type'. Anyway, after some times she fell in love with me and I let it go whilst I knew perfectly I was going to dump her. Once it was over, I truly regretted my actions, I somehow disgusted myself for what I'd done to that girl –she was nothing but a rebound girl to me..."

"A rebound girl?" the Satedan repeated.

"Someone you use to heal yourself after a failed relationship, someone to help you turn the page…" Sheppard left the sentence unfinished, waiting for Ronon's reaction.

"Amelia is not a rebound girl to me," Ronon told him, his tone assured.

"She's a nice girl," John agreed. He was glad to hear that, quietly. He sighed almost inaudibly.

"Is Teyla a rebound to you? I mean, another rebound?" Ronon asked.

A frown creased John's forehead.

"'Another' for who?"

"Doctor Weir," Ronon replied succinctly. After all, her name said pretty much everything there was to say.

This sudden moment of reflection was quite unexpected. John was certain he'd known Ronon more or less thoroughly, and he never had thought he would hear something this _thought out_ from his friend's mouth. He took a deep breath. Thinking about Elizabeth felt good even if it brought up painful emotions; but he couldn't hold Ronon any grudge about that; he felt almost proud of himself for feeling so calm, and it was slightly odd somehow.

"Elizabeth and I were very close, but nothing really happened between us. And we _all_ miss her," he explained. "As for Teyla, as you said, she has a family now. There is nothing more to say except that the agony column is closed for the night. We should get some sleep."

"OK," Ronon agreed. "Goodnight, Shep'."

"'Night, Chewie," John replied closing his eyes. The darkness of the room was nothing compared to the darkness of his thoughts.

_**TBC...**_

_Please review !_


	5. Chapter 5: Bad luck

_**Thanks for the reviews.**_

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Chapter 5: Bad luck**

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The day was already quite far advanced. Everyone had had a lie in.

"That damned Dick!" Rodney fumed as he stood at the lounge room window, in his pajamas, looking out into the yard.

John chose that moment to come down the staircase, half awake and his hair messy.

Amelia, who'd woke up earlier than the rest of the group, entered the lounge bringing a dish full of coffee mugs. She stopped in her track quite suddenly the moment she saw John, or rather John's boxer shorts. They were blue… with bananas everywhere… A bit worried about what John might think of the direction of her gaze, she quickly diverted her eyes, and tried hard to dismiss the strange and confused thoughts that had popped into her mind.

John, though, did not give the impression he had seen or mind Amelia's gaze. He asked Rodney:

"What happened, McKay?"

"We're stuck!" Rodney groused in low spirits. "It snowed the _entire_ night and the road's blocked! It's impossible to make it in or out by car! Don't you understand! It's already begun!"

"What has _begun_?" Jennifer inquired, dressed in a set of appropriate daywear and ready for breakfast: Rodney was being silly, surely: he always panicked for nothing!

"'Must be _the curse_," Amelia told her quavering wickedly on the last words.

She was now pouring hot coffee, or tea, in the mugs she had brought earlier when Ronon appeared on the top of the staircase. Strangely, he wore an identical set of boxer shorts as Sheppard's. Everyone except John, who was sipping his coffee, stared at him. Taking in his companions' bewilderment, Ronon made his way to a seat, and mumbled:

"Sheppard lent it to me. He didn't want me sleeping next to him without clothes. I didn't brought pajamas with me."

Then it was Teyla's turn to show up, Torren in her arms.

Sheppard's and Ronon's matching boxer shorts distraction soon become old and the conversation came back to the snow-covered roads and the impossibility to go back to Whistler before some times.

"McKay, does the telephone work?" Sheppard asked, a light bulb suddenly shining virtually above his head.

"Yeah, _surprisingly_ it does! Jeannie called about ten minutes ago. Weather forecasts were way off the mark again! Nowadays, it shouldn't be _that_ difficult to forecast the weather a day in advance, especially with all the computers and satellites those people have! They not only screwed it up the information, they also screwed up our plans! "

"Jeannie can't come here, which means she can't bring anything _in_, either! And we can't use the car or even the skidoo® for that matter, it can only support two or three of us. I counted up the left-over food: two bags of potato crisps, a _single_ slice of tart, enough raw ingredients for maybe two or three sandwiches, two bottle of milk, and a family-sized Chili can! No need to say we'll soon be out of everything. The skidoo® is our only option; someone has to take it to go to town.

"But we went shopping yesterday!" Teyla exclaimed, surprised that the food had gone so quickly.

"Well, it seems we've gotten into the comfortable habit of expecting food to just _be there_ as soon as we step foot in the Mess! Now, contrary to what we've become accustomed to on Atlantis, food doesn't just _appear_ out of nowhere!" He made gestures while speaking. "There are seven of us in here!"

"There's no need to panic," Jennifer calmed him.

If she could calm Rodney, half of the battle would be won. However, he did not seem to work:

"Of course I'm panicking! There is a glutton hanging over our shoulders!" Rodney whined gesticulating wildly in Ronon's direction.

Clearly, the man was too far gone and lost in his thoughts to realize his words might hurt Ronon. Also, Amelia him short:

"We could just shovel away enough snow so that our car might pass through? With five of us it shouldn't take too much time, right? And Teyla, or even Jennifer, would remain with Torren of course."

Rodney could not help but think about the probable state of starvation he would soon be facing. He did not pay much attention to Amelia's saying. Suddenly, his eyes suddenly lit up and he cried:

"Ah, yes! I forgot Jen's biscuits and Torren's baby food!"

"McKay!" Sheppard reprimanded.

"What!" McKay defended. "In times of crisis, everybody has to pull together and do their part!"

Sheppard, slipping into his role as military leader, took command of the conversation before it goes too far out of hand:

"Will your heating boxes be able to assure us heating if we have to stay here any longer, Rodney?"

"You're kidding!" McKay shot, his mind distracted from the prospect of what he'd be eating over the next few hours and the coming days. "They won't deplete before at least two or three years!

"That's good to know," Sheppard responded. "Teyla? You don't mind staying alone inside with Torren?"

"Of course not. We will be fine, John," Teyla answered with a smile.

A small smile came across John's face too before he started speaking again:

"No other ideas? Nobody?"

"I think I'm going to _love_ Canada!" Amelia said ironically.

After Rodney's earlier rant, some humor could not hurt them. Yet, furiously biting in his bread, the scientist started again grumbling with his mouth full:

"Damned Mick!"

OooooooO

Early in the afternoon, May had phoned to tell the lot to pay a visit to her Squamish neighbor, Mr Matthews. The old man had planned to visit his son in Lilooet, but aunt May was afraid he had been stuck at home by the snow. Ronon had immediately volunteered to check in on him. Although John was not too confident about it; after all they were talking about a trip throughout the thick, cold and snowy Canadian forest with no means of communication or defense. Even if they weren't far from town, it wasn't to be taken lightly.

As an excuse not to come along, Rodney had said he wanted to check parameters on his heating boxes. John, as the last resort, persuaded himself to go with Ronon, but the latter seized the chance to ask Amelia to accompany him instead.

A short while later, Amelia and Ronon, warmly wrapped up, had left on the humming skidoo®, heading off in the direction Rodney had indicated.

Teyla was playing with Torren on the sofa, and Rodney and John were discussing what to do of their spare time. They decided it would wise to check the repairs of the previous day to make sure the snow had not re-damaged any rooves.

Jennifer took advantage of being left alone to call the hospital:

"Hello, Dr Callahan. …Yes, it's Dr Keller. I'm calling you from May Jenkins's house. …Yes… We're snowbound; we can't use the car and it would be difficult for anyone to come here. How is May today? …Oh, that's certainly a relief! Could you pass along that we'll be around to see her very soon? …Ah, thank you! … you already have my results! That was fast! …I'm sorry, there's interferences on the line because of the snow… Yes, thank you, that would help …My rate of- I'm sorry, can you say that again? Doctor? …Doctor?"

The line fell out completely; Jennifer's face fell with it: she was sure Dr Callahan had something important to tell her.

"Are you OK, Jennifer?" Teyla inquired from the lounge.

"A problem with the phone?" John asked coming back from outside with Rodney.

"The line disconnected," Jennifer responded looking worried.

It was the kind of complication they didn't need at the time.

"What!" Rodney roared in disbelief. "Oh, that is just _great_! cell phones are down too! Damn Buck!"

Without another word, Jennifer went upstairs to her bedroom. Teyla placed Torren in John's arms and went after the young woman, taking the staircase slowly. She found Jennifer sat on her bed, the eyes lost into space.

"May I?" Teyla asked politely from the hallway.

Jennifer quickly composed her features; she didn't want to upset Teyla plus what bothered her was private. She invited Teyla in with a nod.

Teyla sat down next to her and waited for her friend to talk; she did not want to force Jennifer to speak if the girl was not in the mood to do so.

"There's something wrong with my blood test," Jennifer's quiet voice finally broke the silence, "but our conversation's been cut, and I didn't really understand what the doctor said…"

"Do you hurt?" Teyla inquired unable to hide the worry growing inside her.

"No," Jennifer breathed, "I'm just tired."

"Did you talk about this with Rodney?"

"Teyla…" Jennifer began wearily.

"Jennifer."

The younger woman surrendered, at last.

"OK, I'm gonna talked to him…" she agreed, "_tonight_…"

OoooooO

The snow had begun to fall with increasing strength, reducing visibility all around them.

Amelia tighten her grasp around Ronon's warm back as the skidoo® left a trail of ripped up snow in its wake and clear tracks in its path through the fir trees –"but for how much longer?" Amelia wondered. She took a look at the sky above her head: it was somber than before, crowded with heavy dark gray clouds, warnings of a bad storm to come. For a moment, she wondered if it wouldn't be wiser to go back to May's, following back the tracks while they were still visible in the snow. Ronon had thought the same but as he explained to Amelia, they were closer to their destination than to May's. Therefore, they continued their way, hoping that, when the storm would break they'd already be at the old Indian's house.

Ronon was sure he could remember the way back anyway.

From the top of a hill they could see below a small wooden house sat on its banks by a frozen lake. All of the shutters were closed.

Ronon drove down the hill and stopped by the house, near the front door. They shook off the snow stuck on their clothes as they walked to the door.

Ronon knocked.

"It looks as though the man had had time enough to leave; I won't blame him!" Amelia exclaimed, clapping her hands together and rolling her right hand into a fist in her left hand: it was freezing!

Leaving the woman on the porch, Ronon made his way around the house and noticed a small window high up on a wall. A quick glance inside told him that the house, which consisted of only two rooms, was empty. There was no fire in the fireplace but a Winchester was proudly hanging above it.

When Ronon made it back to the front of the house, Amelia was admiring the view before her, her gaze fixed on a point about fifty meters farther from where they both stood. The wind was blowing up; a dry, icy wind that pierced bodies and bones with the greatest of ease. Ronon strode forward to join the woman, meeting her on a rocky headland overhanging the lake. From his vantage point, he could see that the ice completely covered the surface of the lake.

Amelia turned round with a delighted smile illuminating her face, a smile which made Ronon forget the freezing wind.

"Next time, I'll bring my ice-skates!" she said.

Yes, for a moment, Amelia made him feel warm inside; warmer than he'd been for quite some time.

But soon, the wind gusted again, reminding him that it was time for both of them to get back.

OooooO

"Rodney? Are you OK?"

"Ouch! It's my ankle! I think it's broken!"

The scientist had fallen in front of the few steps leading up to the entrance of the house. Teyla and John immediately turned back and ran to help him to his feet before quickly concluding that it would not be wise to encourage him to stand: the pain he was in made his already red-with-cold face contort badly.

"That's just my luck!" McKay gave a short laugh of irony. "Damn!" he cursed.

"We _know_ it is painful_, _Rodney!" Teyla assuaged, hoping to take his mind from the pain. "But your friend Tuck has nothing to do with it! You slid on a patch of ice. Let us get inside; we do not want to catch a cold out here. You _must_ stand."

Using most of their weight to support their friend, John and Teyla made it into the house and led McKay to the sofa. He sank into the cushions with a heavy sigh, just as Jennifer hurried into the room; worry clearly written across her features:

"What happened, Rodney!" she panicked a bit. Then, just in time, "And, _please_, _don't_ start with this curse again!"

"Even _you_ have to admit it; it's pretty unlikely to be naturally befallen with _quite_ so _many_ troubles in such a short space of time! Wanting to fetch some logs for the fire from outside, I made it to the porch but slipped on the _steps_! I'm in _real_ pain! Oh, _God_, it's probably an open fracture!"

Ignoring what Rodney thought she had to admit, Jennifer removed his shoe and applied a little pressure to the scientist's swollen ankle, probing the bone as gently as she could.

"Ouch!" McKay yelped, his face contorting in pain again.

"It's not broken," she assured him. "Just a small sprain, that's all. I'm going to bandage it and then we're going to apply ice to it. Come on, Rodney! Don't more out of it than need be, it's not going to kill you!"

Sheppard was not superstitious, but Rodney was right: their troubles had really piled up lately. 'So far, it was hardly what a restful stay should be', he thought.

_**TBC…**_

_**Readers! Please, review!  
**_


	6. Chapter 6: A very bad meeting

**_Thanks for the reviews. Today, I can add Terry and sherry57 to my reviewer's list. So come on! You can do more than that ! LOL ! Post a comment !_**

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Chapter 6: A very bad meeting…**

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"It's getting worse by the minute!" Jennifer exclaimed in desperation as she gazed out through the kitchen window. "And Ronon and Amelia are still out there in the forest!"

Standing in the lounge, John turned on the spot. He knew that he shouldn't have let them leave without the proper equipment. His stomach twisted. Teyla put her hand on his arm.

"John, Ronon was a runner… He will know how to take care of both Amelia and himself. Although I'm sure they already are in this old man's warm house, drinking hot tea…"

Teyla had always known how to find the words to reassure John. She was an essential and irreplaceable element of his team, she was a close friend. Why then were his feelings for her changing? Why did the contact of her skin on his was giving him goosebumps.

"I know…" he began, "but…"

What was he going to say? How could he articulate this feeling he felt inside?

"Don't worry, Sheppard, I can locate them!" Rodney's voice interrupted them while lying on the sofa and desperately clicking and typing on his computer, his fingers flying madly over the keys.

"And how would you do that?" John asked pulling himself together.

"Well, I was bored the other day waiting for Zelenka to bring in my lab the data from the last modifications we'd done to the transmitter-"

"OK, Rodney, make it short!"

"Ok, let's say I managed to blend a scanning device to my computer tablet. And now, I'm able to follow every energy signatures within a 4-km radius!"

The scientist showed them the screen, indicating one sector in particular.

"Look here! It must be them!"

Two tiny green points had appeared on the top of the screen, two points so close to each other that they nearly appeared as only one. Then, a third point appeared next to the other two.

"How can you be sure that these signals are them?" John asked.

"First of, that's Matthews' house. Second, the scanner crosses vital signals with map coordinates, it's how the Daedalus can detect our teleportation tags. Conclusion, those two points are our friends…"

Sheppard gave his head a slight shake; _that,_ he had understood.

"What about the red one getting closer?" He asked anxiously, his finger pointing at the third point.

OoooooooooooO

The wind had picked up; it was now positively violent. The light showering of snowflakes had merely been the precursor to the real blizzard. Ronon and Amelia had decided to force the door; they'd weather the storm out inside the shelter of the old man's home. Silently, they both wondered how the weather had been able to deteriorate so quickly. It was almost freakish how quickly the weather had turned; Amelia tried not to allow her anxiety to rule her.

"Stay here, Amy," Ronon advised, "I'm going out to put the snowmobile under cover."

Amelia disagreed:

"Ronon, I'm sorry but I'm not staying here without the possibility of getting a fire going; I'm going to see what I can find in the small hut I saw when I was last outside. There's hardly anything here for a fire." Turning her body, she indicated two logs near the fireplace with her eyes. Hardly enough to start a fire; for that they'd need smaller pieces of wood, kindling.

There was no argumentation, it was clear to both of them what needed to be done; they pulled down their hoods and went back out in the snowstorm.

OooooooooooooO

Jennifer had made coffee, and so they were all gathered in the lounge. A loud crack announced that the kitchen window had flown into pieces, broken by the bough of a tree which had impacted the pane of glass. At the sound, they all jumped and struggled to their feet, up out their seats. A swirl of snow, carried in on frozen wind, rushed into the room.

"We've got to close all the shutters!" Rodney decided.

Keeping a level head, Jennifer told him

"I tried yesterday but someone's going to have to go outside to do it. They're stuck."

"OK, I'll go," Sheppard said.

"I will come with you," Teyla volunteered.

Sheppard pulled on his anorak. McKay took Torren from Teyla and she put her own anorak on.

"Be careful!" McKay cautioned, but his words got lost in the roar of the snowstorm outside when the front door was pulled open by John, Teyla standing beside him ready to stamp her feet at the impending cold.

They moved with difficulty over the threshold, the strength of wind ceaselessly destabilizing them with apparent ease. Teyla took the lounge windows, and John the kitchen windows with success. From different sides of the house, they turned back and began to make their way back towards the door just as a violent squall untied several icicles from their perches on the ceiling and projected them in John's direction. He had only enough time to raise an arm to protect his eyes when one of the ice cones struck his head, sending him sprawling onto the floor of the porch.

Teyla rushed to his side as quickly as she could with the storm offering her a forceful hand in the one direction she didn't want to go, and discovered him lying unmoving on the floor. Her voice rose in horror as she implored him with urgency

"John! Talk to me! John!"

A thin trickle of blood began flowing along his temple.

OooooooooooooO

There was an impression of disorder to the small hut: tools, an old chainsaw, a workbench covered with glass jars containing substances she could only guess at the identities of… In a corner, a heap of logs drew the young woman's attention. _Yes!_ She bent quickly to collect the wood when her jubilant thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a growl behind her. The door creaked open and she slowly turned around, a slow, cold dread filling her body. A new growl rose. Strange, she thought, how it seemed to make even the noise of the wild, unchained wind cower.

She held her breath as her blood filled with icicles, turning sluggishly, agonizingly to ice or cold oil, too slow to afford her any help. She tightened her grip on the log in her left hand instinctively and stared in mounting terror at the grizzly bear's open mouth in front of her.

_Ok…. Amy.._. _You have to stay calm. It's the only chance you have! _She thought.

Raising its snout, the animal took in the scents hanging on the air and made its way forth, into the hut, in its strange wobbling walk. It was coming in her direction!

Forcing down her panic, she threw a quick glance about her. The chainsaw, hanging behind the door, was out of reach. The only exit was the one the bear was now blocking and her one weapon was a log of no more import than forty centimeters. Not really ideal equipment to repel a giant bear.

She slowly moved back against the wall and tried to keep her head. No sudden, jerk movements, she told herself. She couldn't afford to alert the bear to her presence if it already wasn't. Her time playing that card was fast running out.

_OK, Ronon's not far_, she told herself. _Stay calm…_

She could barely hear above the bawl of her rushing blood, even the storm seemed quietened. Ronon must already have returned to the house.

_Don't panic…_

With a little luck, the animal was just curious and would leave soon, leaving her in peace to go about her business.

_That's it, that's all, it's just curious_, she tried desperately to convince herself.

The bear opened its mouth wide, showcasing its impressive teeth.

OoooooooooooO

"John! Wake up!" the Athosian woman's voice rose to scream pitch, leaning over the serviceman lying unconscious on the floor in the center of the lounge.

"Let me see, Teyla!" Jennifer commanded, slowly pushing her friend back.

"What happened?" Rodney asked, limping over to join them.

"An icicle struck his head…"

Jennifer checked his pupils and moved on to examining the wound.

"He's unconscious for the moment," she reported. "I suggest it best to move him into May's room and make him comfortable there. Rodney, can you help us with that?"

"Of course… Is it serious?"

"We'll have to wait for him to wake to say for certain, and even then… It could be that it's only a concussion. Still, concussion can quickly become something more dangerous. We'll have to keep a close eyes on him. Crap! If only I'd thought to bring my medical scanner!"

As they moved John into the bedroom, McKay sighed noisily: this stay had become a sheer nightmare!

OoooooooO

Her gaze locked on the bear's terrifying jaws, Amelia struggled to recall the details of their recent car ride. Rodney had been talking about bears; he'd said something about bears. What had he said? Hibernation… rabid… searching for food…

_Stupid_, she thought, if only she'd been more attentive!

_Do I shout?_ she wondered, beginning to feel herself panic. _If I don't, Ronon will have no way of knowing I'm in trouble; if I do, the bear will go crazy and come for me!_

She could almost feel, now, the hoarse, smoky breath of the grizzly bear as it advanced, moving further into the hut, slaver falling in slow garlands from its lips and mouth. As she fought urgently against the tide of her increasing panic, a large stone flew out of nowhere, striking the back of the animal's head violently, and a warlike shout rang outside: that was where the stone had come from, she decided, clinging onto the tiny hope that the bear would turn to investigate before panic overwhelmed her completely.

Unbalance by the blow, the bear turned and moved out of the hut, and Amelia, without losing a single second, rushed to close the door.

Her heart leapt, and then sunk, plunging down into dark depths, wiping out her relief with a single swipe and replacing it with cold, hard terror. As she heard the terrifying groan of the animal, quickly leaving her and the hut, it was useless as she tried unsuccessfully to calm her breathing.

_Ronon…_

OoooooooO

"Let me take your place here, Jennifer," Teyla said softly. She'd left Torren to sleep upstairs and had joined the doctor in May's room. So far, she hadn't left Sheppard's side, and he was yet to wake. It had been an hour already, and it was stretching on; soon it will have been two hours.

"You should go, check in on Rodney," she offered, trying to turn Jen's mind to matters which were less dark. "He tries to cook but I do not think cooking is his area of expertise."

Finally, Jennifer agreed.

"OK, Teyla," she sighed slowly. "But you'll tell me the moment he wakes, or… if something else comes up?" She didn't want to think about that happening, but it had to be said.

Teyla nodded. Of course, she would certainly do that.

The doctor got up slowly and turned her gaze to the door. The Athosian woman held her by the arm with a firm but not hurtful grip.

"And Jennifer, try to eat something."

Keller smiled in answer, and left the room. Teyla listened to her footsteps getting softer as she moved farther, until finally they were no longer audible at all over the storm's fury. She went to sit down on the bed next to John. Jennifer had bandaged his wound and his breathing was regular. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Of course, she had seen him in worse states during their numerous missions. She had always worried about him, but the same could be said for Ronon, or Rodney. She'd worried for each of them, every time something had happened that hadn't meant to happen, in every attack, in every ambush…

Slowly, she crossed her hand over John's hair and touched his cheek. The contact of his skin beneath hers sent electricity surging through her arm to her chest. She barely had time to register that his skin was warm – a good sign – as she fought back a gasp.

It was suddenly all too strange, this reaction she was having; she struggled to make some sense of it, but came up blank. What was happening to her?

OooooooO

He cursed himself for having been so stupid. He'd been driven back to the edge of the bank by the bear's advances, to exactly the place Amelia and he had stood looking out over the lake what seemed like only minutes ago. Furiously, the animal continued its charge, advancing on him with what he could only suppose was the intention of turning him to something resembling porridge, only bloodier.

He brandished the hunting knife he'd found in May's barn – it seemed so long ago now, when they'd all been back at the house, warm and safe – and pointed it in the direction of the grizzly bear, feeling sorely that it was his only means of defense against the engaged beast.

The snow made him stumble as he moved back towards the rocky peak. As he'd fled, he's managed to catch sight of the hut door closing quickly after the bear; Amelia locking herself into the hut. At least she would be safe, he thought.

He'd never fought against an animal of this bear's size before, and, in spite of his reputation as a merciless warrior, this time, his confidence was beginning to wane… Squalls of snow danced before his eyes, disturbed his vision.

The huge bear leapt forward with surprising strength and verve, pushing him further out across the ice-cold extremity of the headland below which, from a drop of about three or four meters, the frozen lake extended. It was his only chance of escape… In a growl of fury, the grizzly bear reared on its hind legs, standing up to its full height before him, and, with one massive arm, rendered him a gash that tore up Ronon's right arm. The pain was blinding in its intensity and Ronon barely felt as the ground beneath his feet began to shift. The extremity of the rock peak, weakened by the storm's cold anger and the combined weights of man and animal, began to break off. The animal moved quickly and deftly to avoid the fall, but Ronon was not afforded that luxury as his footing rapidly deteriorated. As his last chance, he swiveled and dived towards the frozen lake.

His shoulder collided heavily the frozen surface, sending a jet of pain screaming through it. The thickness of his clothes had done little to weaken the impact. From high above him, he perceived the impressive silhouette of the bear as it growled ferociously: whether to chide him for his foolishness, or in anguish at its meal's quick escape, he couldn't be sure. The animal's back was already turned, its legs already carrying it, with little doubt, to the lake's edge.

Ronon took stock of his options: how would he get out of this alive. His arms and legs felt like they were on fire. He struggled to regain his feet and was met by the sound of a loud crack coming from beneath him; the sound went on, swiftly traveling the length of his body. The ice was giving way…

OoooooooO

"Still out ?" Rodney asked in a voice tinged with gloom.

Jennifer sighed

"Mmm… I hope the shock of the blow to his head hasn't caused an oedema. Torren is sleeping soundly for now, and Teyla is keeping an eye on John."

Rodney began making sandwiches, fervently piling all of the edible things remaining in the refrigerator onto bread.

"Rodney, maybe it would be an idea to go lightly on the food at the moment, so there's enough left for all of us," Jennifer suggested gently.

"Euh… Yeah. You're right. Sorry… but when I feel guilty, I tend to swallow everything I can find, as long as it's… edible…"

Jennifer's voice hitched

"Rodney! It's not your fault!"

"I'm the one who brought us all out here in the first place, Jen! To this… Godforsaken forest! And now Sheppard, my _best friend_, is lying on my aunt's bed with his skull… probably _smashed_ into little bits; Ronon and Banks are most likely _dead_ – frozen to death in the blizzard – here's me, merrily trying to scoff the last of the food we have left: I don't even care if there's anything left for the rest of us, it seems! I'd steal the last meal from a poor child and two women in distress, do you see what sort of a person I am!"

Jennifer slipped her arms around the scientist's neck and kissed him for a long moment, silencing his angry words.

"Shut up," she admonished, "Ronon and Amelia are alive because your pad is telling us that they still _are_! John is going to wake up and we'll all have the family-size canned Chili. Did you forget? We all asked to come with you; we _weren't_ forced!"

"True," Rodney murmured, tightening his arms around Jennifer affectionately as his heart swelled. "What would I do without you? You're amazing!" The scientist took the young lady's face between his hands and tenderly caressed her cheeks; he kissed her again. "I love you so much, Jennifer Keller…"

OoooooooooooO

The weight of his sodden clothes pulled him down, an anchor that fought him at every move. Frantically, he tried to catch the ice sheet next to him – if he had something to hold onto, maybe he'd be – but it broke under the stress of his weight the moment he leaned on it. If it had happened gradually, he could not say; his arms and legs were numb from the water, all that was left a lingering impression of awareness, that something should be there, something that could help him make it out of this icy water. Even through wet eyes, he could see that the shore was only a few meters away. He had to try and swim. He could make it, he told himself. He _had_ to make it! The adrenalin pumping furiously in his veins would be his salvation, would give him the strength he needed.

The effort came too late as he lost all feeling of his legs and sank deep into the dark water of the lake.

_TBC…_


	7. Chapter 7: Ladies and gentlemen

_**Thanks to jayni1000, Jen (don't forget my angel!), sagey, Dani, lanteanscribe and "reader" (I changed "stalactite" by "icicle" but I keep the grizzly ! ) **_

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Chapter 7: Ladies and gentlemen…**

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At long last, Sheppard opened his eyes. The light invaded his optic nerves, and he felt as though his head was exploding. Then, bit by bit, his vision painfully cleared and he became aware of Teyla's presence. Warmth spread throughout his being.

Teyla sat beside him, greeting him with a smile; her beautiful and expressive eyes were the only indicator of her deep worry. Softness and urgency played a haunting melody with her voice when she said:

"John, how are you feeling?"

The colonel didn't answer, and for a moment, he didn't move either. Finally, he slowly tried to sit up. His head began to pound harder. Teyla rushed to his aid, propping up a big pillow behind his back. John let himself relax against it.

"If you put aside the hundred or so pneumatic drills piercing my skull right now, then I'd have to be honest and say I'm fine…" he joked.

His throat was too dry; maybe it hadn't come out quite right… Teyla's eyes flickered; she began to rise:

"I will inform Jennifer"

"Wait!" he said, grabbing her arm to stop her.

Teyla slowly allowed herself to sit back on the mattress.

Feeling her weight rested beside his, John felt his anxiousness diminish. The need to speak gnawed at him, it was what she was waiting for; it was the reason he'd asked her to wait, wasn't it? He took a moment to organize his thoughts, not to let it appear as though this was a struggle:

"While I was unconscious, many thoughts overtook my mind… I dreamed about many things, but…" He let the sentence fall: why was his heart pounding so fast and hard?

"But… ?" Teyla prompted.

The woman's voice gave him some courage. he gently placed his hand over hers. An odd shiver rose in her, turning her body rigid.

"I dreamt of you," he finished to a drum roll beat only he could hear coming from his heart.

Silence met his confession: uncomfortable, confusing… He began to feel uneasy and, keen to fill the silence, he went on:

"It can't be easy for you; I understand how you feel about Kanaan, and despite you and Kanaan have known better days, I know that you care for him deeply, and… And I know that you love Torren… which is normal, he's your son after all…" His head was all over the place, his speech along with it. "Ronon and I have spent considerable time talking about this and we both firmly agree: harmony within the team is the most important thing, good relationships, trust…"

Teyla listened attentively as Sheppard spoke but the latter didn't seem to be able to finish a single sentence; her worry came in painful pangs. She desperately wanted to say the words for him, but she had no idea what those words might be.

John's face was grave as he struggled to articulate his so important thoughts. Teyla watched as truth suddenly dawned in his eyes. She felt her own eyes flutter closed for a moment, then snap open as she solidified her decision.

As Sheppard lamented over his awkward explanation and how to rectify it, the Athosian gently took his face between her hands.

"What I mean to say… I think…"

As he felt Teyla's warm fingers on his skin, Sheppard stopped his monologue and met her bottomless gaze, more serious than ever.

She slowly brought her face to meet his; his mouth was half open but that wasn't a problem, their lips fit against one another in a perfect match. As their tongues mingled along with their breaths, Teyla had a vague recollection of this happening before, when John had been infected with Carson's retrovirus.

At this point, John wasn't able to continue the kiss; he let his hand fall from her nape which, a moment before, he'd been caressing so lovingly. He'd often imagined this moment; many times, in fact, and to push her away now was close to torture. Nevertheless, he did what he had to do.

He took a moment to get his breath back, trying hard to control its shaking.

"Listen, Teyla," he told her, whilst he could still speak, "I think right now you're crossed with Kanaan; I saw you quarrelling in front of the Stargate. Perhaps your feelings are… slightly altered… I don't think we should do this… And there's Torren, I don't want…"

Teyla straightened herself, no longer leaning into John. He immediately felt the loss of her body's warmth.

Her eyes were downcast; John could almost read her mind now: she was angry with herself, angry that she didn't love Kanaan as much as before, angry for considering him as a man with whom she'd shared her bed, and nothing more. She was angry for seeing him as the father of her child instead of the love of her life! Did she ever love him?

For several months now, she'd known that something inside her had changed. Something that she'd always considered as admiration, friendship and tenderness for the leader of her team had transformed, little by little, into an emotion that she'd never previously imagined herself feeling for anyone.

When Elizabeth had left, she had tried to help him, persuaded that he had lost the only woman important to him. And now, that was what she wished to become: the most important woman in his life… It was ridiculous!

"I'm sorry, John," she began, fighting not to stumble over her words in her fragile emotional state, "Elizabeth is… I am…" She couldn't go on.

Long seconds passed by in a heavy silence. Then, seized with a rational thought, Sheppard realized that they'd both got a little lost: it wasn't about Kanaan; it wasn't even about Elizabeth.

His hand still caressed Teyla's cheek, remaining there adamantly, as though it knew something that both didn't. Her skin was so soft, so warm…

A violent and passionate fever overtook them, a fever filled with raging intensity. They instantly shared another kiss, the most passionate one they'd ever given or ever received.

OoooooO

"I'm going to see Teyla," Jennifer declared her intention aloud so Rodney wouldn't look around and suddenly wonder where she was gone and then get worried.

She put the plate of sandwiches she had in her hands down on the diningroom table and headed for the bedroom; she'd just stepped into the hallway, when the walls began to spin around her at a crazy speed.

She inhaled deeply to try to calm the sudden onset of vertigo and felt her skin sweating.

"Jennifer?" Rodney had watched her walk away before she stopped in the doorway to the hall, standing very still as though waiting for something that was about to happen.

Hearing him speak, Jennifer thought Rodney's voice seemed _so_ far away; she had difficulty recognizing her first name. She felt her legs begin to give way, already buckling beneath her, and her mind had begun to muddle when a sudden darkness opened its arms to her and she fell right into its embrace.

OooooooO

_Stabbing pain in his arm… Tingling in his toes…_

Outside, the roaring of the wind accompanied the sound of the branches scratching against the closed shutters. He was wrapped with a soft heat and the memories unfolded slowly in his mind.

_The grizzly bear… The attack… His dive towards the lake… The fall… The ice-cold water paralyzing him… The rope thrown towards him… The superhuman effort of the young woman that pulled him out and up onto the bank… The same woman dragging him up to the hut and bandaging his arm with a torn-up piece of material… Where had that come from?_ _Then, his heart slowing down and his sink into unconsciousness._

He breathed deeply; his eyes remained closed. A flowery scent pulled him out of his torpor. The realization that he was not alone in the bed was slow and paralyzing; he didn't dare make a move. Groggily, he forced his eyes open. Amelia's head lay against his shoulder; her forehead rested against his cheek. The soft perfume scent he'd smelled was that of her hair. Her hand lay against his stomach and, with bewilderment he noticed that he wore no clothes. Delicately, he raised a piece of the blanket with his free arm and noted that Amelia had kept her underclothes. Warily, he quickly glanced around the room. A fire was burning in the small chimney, the exits were barricaded. It was dark outside. The bed had been pushed to the center of the room to sit in front of the hearth. The storm had weakened. The Winchester was laying on the table.

_The shots… A growl… the animal's flight…_

The young lady's breath, peaceful and even, caressed his neck. She sighed and raised her leg along the Satedan's thigh. The low light of the flames colored her naked shoulder with golden reflections.

Moved by an irresistible desire, Ronon touched Amelia's cheek. Her skin was velvety and warm. He trembled; he'd gone all shivery.

At that same moment, Amelia opened her eyes. She took a brief moment to come back to her self in wakefulness, and lifted her head from Ronon's shoulder before bringing her face close to his, watching him.

Her hand had moved up to his powerful chest. She realized abruptly that the Satedan might be wondering why he was completely naked in a bed with her. Amelia, now rather embarrassed, slowly moved away from Ronon's body.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Ronon," she mumbled. "I had to remove your clothes because you were in hypothermia. I was really scared. I had to get you warm again quickly. I lit a fire and I believe that I fell asleep next to you…"

"It's OK, Amy; I'm fine now. And thanks for taking me out of the lake…"

Their glances were riveted to the other's.

"Thank you for saving me from finishing up in that bear's stomach," Amelia replied nervously.

For a short moment, they stayed still, as though part of a scene from a photograph, then, at the feeling of a hand settling on her waist, Amelia's breathe quickened. Ronon waited for a reaction, his face was calm. Amelia's fingers glided over the charmingly soft skin of the ex-runner. Ronon drew her to him, and, when she was in his arms, met her with a tender kiss. So soft, so warm. Amelia savored this moment of pure surrender, and answered his kiss ardently. She tightened her hold on Ronon's burning body as his hands reached to unfasten her bra.

TBC….


	8. Chapter 8: Anguish

_**Thanks for your reviews: Dani, Sagey, Jen and Hifield. If you want, you can sent a little word to my betas Codwallop and Planet P.**_

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Chapter 8: Anguish**

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When Jennifer Keller's eyes finally opened, she saw with astonishment Col. Sheppard's face hovering above her.

Sheppard called out:

"McKay! She's awake"

"Jennifer, are you OK? You scared the hell out of me! 'God! You look so pale!" Rodney exclaimed.

The young lady swallowed with difficulty and asked for a glass of water hefore answering anything:

"I… Yes… I think I fainted… John? What happened to your head?"

"She's amazing!" Rodney gestured, raising his arms to the sky. "You downright collapsed in the lounge still you worry about Sheppard's head bump?"

"Eh!" John protested.

"Oh please, John! You're as fit as a fiddle; no fractured skull and your wacky humor seems more than _less_ intact! Make yourself useful and bring Jennifer some fresh water!"

Teyla put her hand on Sheppard's arm: Rodney's judgment was clouded by his worry for Jennifer, it wouldn't be right to respond to it as though it were provocation. Wordlessly, John left the room.

Rodney's eyes darted about for a moment, before he said:

"Jennifer, Teyla told me…"

The young lady threw a discouraged glance towards the Athosian woman, only solidifying Teyla's opinion that, under the circumstances, it had been the best choice. Sheppard returned with a glass of water and Jennifer drank several mouthfuls.

"Your constant tiredness, the blood test at the hospital, your lack of appetite, and now _this_! How could I have been so blind?"

"Rodney!" Jennifer begged.

"It's been going on for two months, now, Jen! Why didn't you tell me?"

Sheppard and Teyla left the room quietly, leaving their friends some privacy.

It was late. Outside, the intensity of the wind had doubled. Silently, Teyla and John took the stairs up to the first floor, remaining short of words as they stood upon the landing. For a long moment, they held each other's gazes. Slowly, Sheppard reached out to take Teyla's hand. He turned her hand over and lifted it slowly to his lips, planting a slow, soft kiss in her palm. The subtle flavor of her skin was overwhelming; he could feel his knees becoming weak.

Teyla stepped toward him, touching his mouth with her fingertips. The warmth of her fingers added to the intoxication. The tears of a baby rang out: Torren…

John lowered his eyes, resigned. He reached for the door handle.

"I think he misses his mother…" he said hoarsely.

A last burning glance was given; the door was closed.

Teyla allowed herself a heavy breath. She walked in to join her son.

OoooooO

Sitting on the bed with Jennifer, Rodney couldn't fight the feeling that something important was slipping away from him; his eyes had taken on a hollowness that showed his emotional stress.

_A crack had appeared in our connection_, he thought; their intimacy was suffering somehow. He found it hard to admit how hurtful it felt: hard because he didn't want to be bitter or angry – he didn't _want_ to blame Jen! She'd been scared and confused enough; she'd probably convinced herself that her own ailing health were over-exaggeration or paranoia, that the sick people whom she worked with day-in/day-out deserved better than an imagined illness she felt just because she was _so_ tired: tired of sick people, tired of people _hurting_ other people!

Rodney needed time: time to process Jennifer's confession, time to understand. _Wait_… _No! There is no time anymore! Time would only make things worse, both physically and mentally in the case of Jen!_

"It began after you returned from P4M-575," Rodney surmised. "Do you think it's connected with the Ori's disease?"

"No one on Carson's team was contaminated, Rodney, and they spent two months on the planet! They took all the necessary precautions with the hermetically-sealed clothes! I stayed for a _few_ days, and, when I came back I was examined and scanned!"

"But _you_ didn't wear hermetical clothes!"

"I never even _entered_ the village, Rodney! I stayed two kilometers away from the village all the time. Plus, the Ori's virus was specifically designed to contaminate the cells of the planet's inhabitants only, by exploiting a surface protein specific to _its_ population."

Rodney's heart sank; Jen's words had not been the solace he'd been seeking. He couldn't force himself to be convinced.

"Imagine that the disease mutated, imagine that it became airborne."

Jennifer's eyes burned. There was a merciless logic to Rodney's argument: she'd seen it before, not with this disease, but with others.

"Rodney, you're not helping me," she said, barely able to voice the last word; but she had to take responsibility, she had to own up: this was real, this was happening!

Rodney's face morphed into a mask of contriteness. His objections were only deteriorating the situation, making things worse. He moved closer to her.

"My goodness, Jennifer, I'm an idiot! Please, pardon me… I worry about," his voice became a rough murmur, the word stuck in his throat, "you…" He leaned down and embraced her tightly. If only he could stay like this forever, if only he could hold and protect her…

"If you're right, I'm probably contagious," Jennifer added, her smile as painful as it was forced, and, in the circumstance, luridly absurd, almost indecent.

She wasn't smiling to comfort Rodney, she was smiling to comfort herself, to say… To say what? _Oh, God!_

Rodney relaxed his embrace on her and rose to caress her cheek gently.

If she'd ever needed proof, that was the moment; the moment she knew. Rodney loved her! He didn't need to add anything to show her how much he loved her.

She took ridiculousness to new heights with her next words, fighting the tears that forced to show, to bring to light her continued deception – _something_ wasn't right!

"I assure you that you're wrong, Rodney; I'm just a little overworked. Carson didn't observe any mutations in the virus; he'd thought of that too, he's the best after all. Everyone on the team is fine and the treatment works," she said, but the reassurance she'd offered didn't stretch far enough to ward off the stinging of her eyes.

She'd omitted to specify that her serotherapy was effective only if it was administered in time. Should the opposite occur, the tumoral process could really be very aggressive. Doubts circled in her mind, but suddenly, as though they were a swarm of winged creatures, they veered, becoming an impenetrable, dark cloud. _It's not possible_, she told herself. _It's not possible; it _hasn't_ mutated!_

Rodney's voice broke through the dark cloud:

"Listen, we're not going to panic"

She was too quick to reply, her voice a little too close to a retort:

"You _are_ panicking, Rodney. I'm not." She felt a stab of fear at her own words; she _almost_ held her breath.

"You're going to try to sleep a little. Tomorrow morning, the storm will have stopped; Ronon and Amelia will be back, and we'll drive to town; we'll contact Atlantis, and, if need be, we'll all head back to the base. I am, as you say," he injected a hint of humor to his voice, "_panicking_ – you don't have any stupid disease, you just need an 'enormous, special McKay cuddle' and a good week of rest. Deal?"

Jennifer took Rodney's hand and smiled. On normal occasion, Rodney's last words would have been light and detached, (She'd witnessed that already), but today, everything in his voice showed further evidences of his profound anxiety for her.

He planted a kiss on her forehead and left the room.

She wanted to cry. Now she was alone, absolutely every word they spoke were replaying in her mind. A stream of doubts assailed her. Had she really been contaminated? Could she have been so careless? What about her friends? And all the people she'd been in contact with since her return from the mission on P4M-575? And the hospital! May! Her heart ached. She needed to contact Atlantis as quickly as possible!

Jennifer heard Rodney stir in the room next to hers. A sudden fear submerged her. She pushed her face into the pillow to smother the sobs rising in her throat.

OoooooO

Ronon went to sit near the fire. His wound was throbbing more than before. He'd found a small med kit in the bathroom and had tried to change his bandage himself.

He half turned and glanced towards the bed behind him. Amelia was sleeping peacefully. With a soft sigh, she turned over so that she was facing him. He contemplated her for a long time before turning his eyes towards the dancing flames in the fireplace.

He removed the ring adorning one of the locks of his hair and ran it between his fingers, rolling it over and over. It had been several years since he'd read the Satedan inscription engraved on its surface:

"_To Ronon, my eternal love. Melena."_

OoooooO

"Rodney, why aren't you sleeping? What are you doing?"

"It's you, Sheppard! Hum… I'm doing something very important for Jennifer… I have to re-calibrate the detector…", Rodney answered as though he were a robot, hardly raising his head as he spoke, so much absorbed by the pad he held in his hand and typing at lightning speed. Surly and with his head dressed in a bandage that was slowly coming undone, John remained by Rodney's side.

Suddenly, the physicist became aware of his presence.

"Oh… Sorry, John," he sighed. "What about you? Why aren't _you_ sleeping? Is your bump painful?"

John removed the rest of the bandage surrounding his head and sat down at the dining room table in front of Rodney as if all he'd been waiting for was the cue. He slowly massaged his forehead.

"No, no, my head's… in one piece… I just can't seem to convince myself to sleep. Whenever I think I'm almost there, I'll think of Ronon and Banks, or… a whole lot of _other things_… How's Jennifer? Is she feeling better?"

"Don't worry about Ronon; Amelia and he lit up on my screen not five minutes ago. And for Jen… "

Rodney's heart sunk: he really had no other choice than to outline the situation… they could all be in danger! He took his time to explain; in his mind, all the while, he was thinking how unusual that was: trying to ward off tears. He wanted to tell himself that his Jen was fine, but that would be a lie: that would be unfair to her!

Sheppard's face wrinkled.

"For surety's sake, I'm going to modify the detector's vital signs program on my pad to adapt it to the human physiology… I'm hoping to come out with something resembling a medical scanner in functionality."

Sheppard's expression melted away slowly, perplexity replacing concern. He was trying, really. Rodney continued:

"Both systems are not so different. They're more or less long-range transmitters that require only an adapted grading. Of course, the infirmary's scanner supplies a clearer image because it was conceived to analyze the precise characteristics of human cells; The signal is of a better quality and the image obtained is virtually identical to that of an MRI. On the other hand, the scanners we use during missions are only programmed to detect life signs or living cells at long range. But I'm going to arrange that"

"What is it exactly that this virus causes? What are the symptoms?"

"Tumors, Sheppard…" The scientist inhaled deeply. Spoken aloud, the word had suddenly taken on an unbearable weight, compressing his chest, making it hard to breathe.

"And you want to detect possible tumor cells inside Jennifer's body?"

This he could answer:

"Exactly. In the human body, the tumor cells will be distinct. The genome of these damaged cells has been changed by parasitic actions to reflect, in some degree, the DNA of the Ori virus itself. Because of that, the damaged cells are in disarray, they have no control and multiply very fast and in an anarchic way. They not only have a distinct DNA, but also a more active energy metabolism… All this data will give a visible signal on my screen."

"They didn't detect the presence of the virus in her body on Atlantis," Sheppard pointed out. "Plus, I thought she'd undergone a period of mandatory quarantine after her return."

"Well… they wouldn't have, not if the virus' DNA quickly integrated with the DNA of her healthy cells before her immune system could act to fight the infection. But if I calibrate my pad with her body's data, with one of her healthy cells as a reference point, my transmitter _should_ be able to detect the presence of a tumor."

"If I understood everything, she is potentially in danger and so are we?" John noted.

He'd given it time enough, now it _needed_ to be addressed. The medical arena wasn't Rodney's field of expertise, but still he must have some basic idea.

"Potentially, yes," Rodney agreed. "That's why we must verify if Jen's infected or not, that's why I'm working on this scanner."

Rodney rubbed his hands over his face to ease the fatigue that had suddenly accumulated in his muscles.

"Carson's team is fine and they're regularly going back and forth from the planet. It would be an outrageous misfortune if Jen had been infected and returned to Atlantis to contaminate the entire City. She never even _touched_ a single patient, for God's sake!"

"We've got to let Atlantis know what's happening; and Carson in particular," John told him, impersonating the voice of the reason.

He'd been trained for circumstances like this, but even with this training it never got any easier – the only consolation was that it was a _necessity_, that helped him managed. He'd always done like this in the past.

"Where's your transmitter?" he asked. They would need it to contact Atlantis.

"You're ready to lynch me when you discovered that I've been transporting naqquadah reactors in my suitcase, albeit of a considerably scaled-down size and capacity, and now you're asking me for my Ancient transmitter?" Rodney remarked, with a visible effort at lightness. "And why not an ZedPM, whilst you're about it?"

John's face creased into a frown, "You _didn't_ bring it! I was pretty sure that you couldn't do without the entire contents of your lab for less than 24 hours."

"Well, I beg to differ. In fact, now you see that I can do without! And what about your own transmitter?"

"I didn't think I'd need it," Sheppard defended himself. "We're on vacation a whole _galaxy_ away: I thought that if _they_ needed us _they_ would contact us, or, at worst case scenario, we'd be in for a trip to the SGC courtesy of Scotty. I didn't envision that _we_ would be the ones needing _them_!" He sighed heavily. There was no sense in ranting about it, he supposed.

"So, I guess that means we've got no transmitter, no internet, and no possibility of calling… whoever!" John added, his mood quickly becoming bleak.

Both men stared at each other in silence. Rodney moved first; opening his mouth as though to speak but John interrupted whatever his friend was going to say:

"McKay, if you say 'curse' again, I swear I'll tear out your tongue!" Sheppard snapped.

McKay grinned

"Ah! It wasn't me, _you_ said it!"

_**TBC…**_


	9. Chapter 9: Diagnosis

_**Thanks to Dani, Sagey, Hifield and Jen. You're always here and it's cool. At least 100 visits for each chapter, thanks to the readers. And you know you can let me a comment ! Let's go and see what happens to Jennifer...**_

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Chapter 9: Diagnosis**

* * *

Teyla woke up in her comfortably warm bedroom. She stretched slowly and listened to the sounds from outside. The storm's anger had dissipated. Beside her, Torren was playing with his Teddy bear. Another of John's presents.

_John…_

The night did not do a good job washing away Teyla's exhaustion. Nevertheless, the young woman put off sleep in an effort to stop thinking of John and the kiss they'd shared… especially the kiss in fact…

Nibbling his toy, Torren twittered and aimed his plump little fingers towards his mother.

"Are you hungry, baby?" she asked.

Torren answered with laughter. She stood and dressed up before preparing her son for the day. She was putting his shoes on when a knock came from the door.

"Teyla? Are you awake?"

John's voice instinctively made her smile.

"Yes, we are, John. Torren and I will join you in a moment."

"OK. Breakfast is ready."

Teyla went to the window and opened the shutters. The sky was blue and the sun shone brightly again; there were no clouds to intercept its warming rays today. The amount of snow from the night before was nonetheless impressive and she could see that the road leading to the house had totally disappeared under a thick, white coat.

She breathed a big gulp of fresh air and relished the sun's rays for a brief moment. In a few minutes she would need to pretend again, in front of the others, that John was simply a friend to her.

OooooO

Amelia pushed the bed against the wall and gathered their last remaining things. It was stupid but she couldn't stop smiling. It had been ages since she'd felt that happy… Last night had been

magic: Ronon's skin, his mouth, his hands… In fact, if she was honest, she had probably fallen for Ronon the first time she'd met him, in one of the corridors of Atlantis, whilst Chuck had given her the tour of the city. She'd immediately asked her colleague who that wild-looking man was. Chuck had answered on a derisive note:

Flashback:

"_This guy over there ? It's Ronon Dex… He's from the planet Sateda. Sheppard's team was on P3M-736 when he kidnapped them… Between us we call him 'Captain Kick-ass.' The Wraiths exterminated his people… Consequently he's obsessed with killing all the Wraith we come across. Few people cant stand him! He's quite scary sometimes. Kavanaugh and Doctor McKay calls him 'Conan'! And for some reasons, Sheppard has nicknamed him Chewie… I guess it's because of "_you know"Chuck had mimed the Satedan's impressive hair with exaggerated gestures.

"_So he's…?"_

'_Alien? Yes, but physiologically speaking, is as human as we are. Teyla Emmagan is 'alien' too, but she…"_

_As Chuck had continued his long-winded speech, Amelia had watched Ronon walking towards the training room, and had abruptly thought her stay on Atlantis was becoming even more interesting._

"_Kavanaugh… Isn't the pain-in-the-ass who made the journey with me?" she had suddenly asked._

_Chuck had been surprised that a newcomer would be so direct and abrupt on the first day, but it was clear that her observations on Kavanaugh's persona were not misplaced. The guy, if he was not a complete moron, certainly acted like one…_

Lost in her memories, Amelia started suddenly as Ronon entered the house with his clothes adorned with fresh snow.

"Hi!" She greeted him. "I didn't hear you go out."

"I didn't want to wake you up," Ronon replied walking over to join her.

He kissed her chastely on the forehead and, for a moment, Amelia's surprise kept her from reacting. But she quickly regained her senses and set herself to the task of tidying up her bag. She had not expected Ronon to be very demonstrative but at least he could have given her more than a friendly kiss…

"The skidoo's ready to go; we can leave now if you're ready," Ronon relayed. "The others must be worried."

"I'm sure they are. Well, I think it's ok, I've put everything back in place," she stammered, increasingly disturbed.

Ronon noticed her clumsiness and gently grasped her arm to turn her to face him.

"I'm sorry, I'm not very…" he trailed away, stroking her cheek.

Amelia sighed and, looking him straight in the eye, she smiled.

"Ronon, I know it was a little fast… We skipped the first date, the dinner by candlelight, the first kiss at the door of my room…" At Ronon's cautious face, Amelia burst out laughing. "OK, right there, it's me, I'm sorry… It's just that I've played what could happen between us a million times in my mind and…"

"Would you like us to do all these stuffs? I am not very familiar with Earth customs. And, it's been a long time since I've…"

Tiptoeing on the spot, Amelia stopped his words with a kiss, covering his mouth with her lips. Breaking the kiss, she searched his face with her eyes, running a hand through his dreadlocks and drawing the contours of the silver ring hanging from one of them with the tips of her fingers.

Ronon stared at her with apprehension but Amelia smiled kindly.

"I understand," she said.

OoooooO

Rodney was asleep on the sofa. He'd almost finalized the scanner's settings when fatigue and depression had overcome him. Teyla gently placed a hand on his shoulder to wake him up, and put a cup of coffee ready on the coffee table before him.  
He emerged slowly from sleep and gasped at the sight of sunlight filtering through the foggy windows.

"Great! The blizzard's gone! Have I slept long?"

"You needed it, McKay," Sheppard replied from across the room whilst sipping his own cup. "You spent half the night tinkering with that pad."

Rodney's heart leapt.

"Jennifer! Is she awake?"

Jennifer's voice came from somewhere out of his sight:

"I'm here, Rodney. I feel better this morning, don't worry."

She was coming down the stairs to join the rest of the group. Rodney's eyes were on her the whole time: she seemed better indeed.

Jennifer sat down next to McKay on the sofa and Teyla brought her a cup of tea.

"Thanks," Jennifer replied. "Do you have any news from Ronon and Amelia?"

Rodney took his pad, consulting it quickly.

"They're fine! They're alive," he reassured her hurriedly. "What about the phone? Is it working again?"

"The phone's still down," John beat them all up to it. "I think this storm's caused a lot of problems in the area. It will take time for the town workers to repair everything. Did you see all that snow?"

"Hum…" Rodney grumbled then offered: "Jennifer, I finished adapting the scanning program. We can give it a try, if you want."

"How did you do that?"

Rodney took that opportunity to wear his scientific voice again and repeated the explanations of the day before, for Jennifer and Teyla's benefit.

"OK, I'm ready," Jennifer finally said.

"So, hum… Do you want us to go somewhere a little more… private?"

"If I'm infected, Rodney, I may have transmitted the virus to all of you. I think you're all concerned. We better do that scan right here, right now," Jennifer spoke firmly, attempting to conceal her anxiety.

Teyla took a seat on the sofa across from her, next to John.

"I'm sure that everything will be fine, Jennifer," she soothed the young woman relaxingly.

"What do I have to do?"

"Nothing," Rodney replied certainly as anxious as she was. "But _I_ need to calibrate my pad with the cells of yours whose DNA isn't likely to be affected by the virus."

Jennifer reached up a hand to her hair and tugged out a strand, handing it to the physicist.

"Try this."

"That's brilliant!" Rodney remarked, bringing the bulb of the hair to the pad's sensor. A green light and synthetic sound indicated that the scanning had begun. After a few seconds, Rodney watched the screen and input validation.

"OK, the initialization is done; we can start a full scan of your body."

Slowly, everyone's eyes rose up to catch Jennifer's. They were all catching their breath.

OoooooO

"Do you think we can wait before talking about our relationship to the others?" Amelia asked Ronon as he prepared to open the door and leave the hut.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, we came here to help Rodney in the first place, and we are guests in his aunt's cottage, so…"

"Do you want our relationship remains a secret until the end of our stay?" It was more an observation than a real a question.

Ronon had spoken simply and Amelia felt relieved that he had understood her reasoning so easily.

"We can be discreet."She agreed.

"No problem," Ronon answered calmly.

On second thought it was not the best idea to Amelia_: Damnit! I'm stupid!_ she thought._ I've dreamt of this guy night and day for so long and after last night events, all I can say is "_please, act as if nothing happened"? She continued to curse herself in her mind for a few seconds.

Yet this wasn't the only thing bothering her at the moment: deep down the young female could feel that a certain visceral fear had come back; like everytime she had clung to someone too much: the fear to lose someone she cares about…

Amelia had felt that same restraint from Ronon since the first time he had invited her to practice kickboxing together; he was trying to hide that feeling of uneasiness too, but Amelia was not fooled.

_Melena._ The name rang sadly in her head. They both had their ghosts in the end…

She brushed away this thought and chose to change the subject.

"Jennifer have to see this wound, you may need stitches."

"It's nothing."

Amelia had never seen Ronon hurry to seek treatment. During his many missions, he would sometimes come back in worse shape than he would set off and he had always been reluctant to go to the Infirmary, claiming that his injuries were nothing more than bruises or scratches.

"As you wish, Mr. Tough-guy!" she joked. "Let's go!" She pointed to the exit.

But Amelia could reach the door knob, the door burst open, and she found herself face to face with the barrel of a shotgun.

Instinctively, Ronon reached for his blaster usually hanging on his side, but it wasn't there this time.

The man standing in the doorway, wrapped up and half hidden in a black parka, was still aiming at them.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?"

OoooooO

Rodney slowly scanned over Jennifer's face and down the rest of her body. As he passed over Jennifer's stomach, Rodney suddenly froze and tightened his grasp on the device. Jennifer anxiously glanced at Teyla and John who could also watch the screen _she_ could not see. Crestfallen John ran his fingers through his hair. Teyla had stopped moving – she even seemed to have stopped breathing, Jennifer thought.

"What?" Jennifer cried tormented.

McKay couldn't say a word.

"Capture the image, Rodney," Jennifer ordered. Rodney did not react, inciting he female to raise her voice, "RODNEY! Capture the image and show me!"

The scientist started, emerging from his torpor, and executed with fumbling fingers what Jennifer had requested. He handed her the device which she took with trembling hands.

She was finally able to look at the screen which displayed a full view of her body studded with multiple red dots.

Rodney sank into the nearer chair he could find, looking at Jennifer's blank face.  
After what felt like an eternity, John could not help but break the silence.

"Should we contact Atlantis?" he asked, his tone as neutral as possible.

Jennifer sat herself on the sofa, frozen too, the scanning device still in her hands. She looked catatonic. John turned to Rodney who, in turn, turned to Teyla. The Athosian felt her friends's unspoken request for help. She rose from the sofa and knelt down on the floor in front of Jennifer, calling her name.

The young woman looked straight in Teyla's eyes. Tears were glistening in her own eyes. The amazement she had felt while studying the screen of the scanner was giving room to disbelief now.

"It cannot be…" That was all she could whispered.

_**TBC…**_


	10. Chapter 10: Revelations

_**Wow ! My list of reviewers became longer ! Cool ! Jen, Hifield, Jen-NCIS-lover, Dani, Sagey, Terri, Melraemorgan: thank you. Always a great satisfaction for an author to have comments, so please, continue. OK now, the truth about Jennifer Keller... I hope you won't be disappointed.**_

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Chapter 10: Revelations**

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"Keep cool, OK? We're Rodney McKay's friends!" Amelia explained, moving forward, her hands outstretched in front of her.

"I don't know who're talking about!"

"He's May Jenkins's nephew!" Amelia replied desperately.

Hearing May's name, the old man looked surprised.

"What'd you say? McKay boy? Shrimpy? He's here?"

"Yes, in May's chalet…" Amelia replied, a bit released. "My name is Amelia Banks and this is Ronon Dex. We're staying in May's house for some time; she asked us to come and see if everything was OK for you, because of the storm; the same storm that forced us to take shelter in your house."

Amelia quietly approached the man and placed a hand on the barrel of his gun, gently indicating there was no need for it.

The old man made a strange gesture: he lowered his weapon and abruptly flattened his free hand against his chest. Finally, he took his hood off, revealing a more than intrigued face.

He perfectly matched the description Rodney made of him: a guy with a matt complexion and short, gray hair.

"You must be Ernest Matthews."

The sixty-year-old Indian stared at Ronon suspiciously before returning his gaze to Amelia's gentle face. He remained quiet for a few seconds, probably lost in his own mysterious thoughts, and remembering the good manners:

"Well, err… sorry for that," he said, and vaguely pointing his gun in the direction of the door: "There's a grizzly prowling about in the forest. People saw it this morning by the lake."

The old man rested his hand on his chest again and seemed to feel something through his closed jacket.

"We know that… The beast attacked us yesterday evening," Ronon replied quite annoyed by the newcomer's persistent glances at Amelia.

The guy finally turned his face towards the fireplace where the Winchester was hanging.

"Was it helpful?"

"You have no idea!" Amelia said with a shy smile.

"Is the grizzly d-…?"

"We've just scared it. The only one injured here is Ronon," replied Amelia before Matthews had the time to finish asking anything. She pointed at Ronon. "He took a scratch…"

"Is it bad, son?" Ernest asked, looking up at the Satedan, who was quite a bit taller than him. "You're lucky the beast did not kill you!"

Ronon nodded. The last person who had called him "son" was his grandfather when Ronon was seven. Smiling, the ex-runner went outside the house.

Amelia remained alone with the old man.

"Mr. Matthews, I'm sorry for your bathroom window; I had to force it to enter the house," Amelia apologized.

"Don't worry about that! I came here just to check everything was OK. I saw your skidoo out in the backyard, but if you want, I can drive you back to the chalet…"

The old man was preparing to leave when he suddenly turned around:

"Forgive my curiosity, where do you come from, girl? I feel that you and I may have some ancestors in common."

"I was born in San Diego, California, but my great maternal grandmother was Cherokee. Does ti help?" Amelia offered.

"Quite… and this man outside, he's your boyfriend?"

"Good question…" Amelia remarked sarcastically, pulling her gloves on.

OooooO

What was needed, Rodney McKay decided, was another scan; one scan alone could not be considered sufficient. Yet, when the new image of Jen's entire body on the screen, thousands of red dots appeared again twinkling over the green background of the rest of her anatomy.

"McKay, it's what we call a situation. We must contact Atlantis," Sheppard ordered, shaking the scientist's shoulder to force him to react.

"Wait!" Jennifer exclaimed. She jumped up on her feet to face McKay. "How sensitive are the scanner's settings, Rodney?"

McKay remained hopelessly frozen, staring at his girlfriend.

"Rodney!" Jennifer, still trembling, almost screamed.

"Hum… what… I… I don't know… I tried to set it for maximum sensitivity…"

"So, even an infinitesimal rate of foreign DNA in my blood would be immediately detected?"

Rodney, far too wearisome to follow her, replied, "Yes… I suppose…"

Teyla approached the young woman and looked at the screen over her shoulder.

"It's everywhere, Jennifer, but a majority of the dots seemed located in this area," Teyla said indicating a point on the picture.

The doctor closed her eyes and sighed.

"Yes, and I know why… it's perfectly normal…"

John and Rodney began to stare at her with a wary glance. Jennifer finally raised her eyes from the pad.

"It just occurred to me, I-I'm _pregnant_, I am not contaminated. _I'm pregnant…_"

Rodney suddenly felt his legs give away under his weight and he fell on the sofa.

"Wow, wow, wow! Wait a minute… _Pregnant_? But how is that possible…" he stammered, completely stunned.

The obvious answer was ready to come out of Sheppard's mouth, but he had to put his foot in it; if he valued his friendship with McKay, now wasn't the right time to laugh at his friend –said friend who looked like he just had put a mummified zombie mask on his face… The unexpected announcement has left him quite perplexed.

If Teyla, always the rational spirit, was already thinking about the way to congratulate her friends, John, on the other hand, was struggling with his mind. Something was bothering him:

"Hum, correct me if I'm wrong," The serviceman stared first at Jennifer and Rodney and then turned to Teyla. "I thought this device only detected cancers…"

"The Tumors the Ori's virus cause are highly virulent but they shouldn't look like these readings," Jennifer explained, pleased to be able to allay her friend's fears. "Anyway, only certain areas of my body should be affected, not my entire bloodstream. If I'm not mistaking, what the scan shows here seems to be the fetal DNA circulating in my blood." Then she whispered : "I'm beginning to understand a lot of things…"

"I thought nothing could pass through the maternal placenta…" Sheppard replied, proud to spread the limited scientific knowledge he possessed about pregnancy.

"Yes, in theory. Nevertheless there's still a tiny amount of fetal DNA and fetal cells found in the mother's blood, and we don't know why. Hopefully, physicists can use it to detect some of the genetic diseases we know without using too invasive methods like amniocentesis. These cells' DNA, or I should say, the embryo's DNA, is a new combination formed from Rodney's DNA and mine. That's why the readings are showing all over my body. It's the only explanation I have… Besides, I would already be dead if the readings were of the Ori's virus…"

"And, without being indiscreet, do you know when you…" John added, deliberately failing to finish his sentence.

"I have some ideas…" Jennifer replied, looking sideways towards Rodney. "I should be about six weeks along. And if it's true, then it explains my fatigue, my loss of appetite, my discomfort, even my upset stomach. And I put it all on my sleepless nights spent to develop the serotherapy!"

"But what about… hum… you know…" John tried not to fluster up too much as he continued, "Hum… You know, female trick… Every month… Well, I'm not an expert, but… You'd have been able to suspect something, wouldn't you?"

_Wow__! Did I just talk about menstruations with Jennifer Keller? Oh my god!_ John thought.

"You know, not so long ago, I barely avoided dying of hypothermia, and my consciousness was transferred into the body of a grave looter before I was able to return to it*. Do you know the effects this sort of _misadventures_ can have on a woman's menstrual cycles?"

"OK! OK! I trust you, no need for details, I'm sorry I spoke about that!" Sheppard raised his hands in desperate surrender.

"Rodney and you apparently had not anticipated this event?" Teyla dared.

Jennifer, who had regained her calm, looked hesitantly at the future dad.

"I'm afraid not," she replied, biting her lip.

Teyla took her friend's hand in hers and gave her a bright, dazzling smile.

"If you are sure you're carrying a child, Jennifer, then it's wonderful!"

In spite of Teyla's attempt to ease the atmosphere, McKay's persistent catatonia kept them all worried. He looked as blank and dead as a statue.

Jennifer slowly approached him on the sofa and carefully put her hands on his knee. All of a sudden, he finally came back to life and looked at her before wrapping her tightly in his arms. Jennifer could feel Rodney's heart close to hers; it was beating so fast it could have broken out of his chest.

"I thought you were gonna d-"

"I'm fine, Rodney… Trust me… ll I need is a medical examination and some tests."

"We have to return to Atlantis," Rodney insisted. "Carson has to examine you."

"Rodney, it is not necessary… I only need to go to Whistler hospital and then we'll see…"

Rodney slowly loosened his embrace and softly caressed Jennifer's fair hair. The young woman took her lover's face between her hands; she dove her eyes into Rodney's, and talked to him as though there was nobody else in the room:

"And after that, you and I will have a serious conversation…"

OoooooO

The morning sun caressed Teyla's face. She closed her eyes and savored this moment of calm now that everyone in the house seemed to have subsided. She had sat herself on a bench of the veranda, near the living room window, where she was able to watch her son now and again. Torren was parked in an improvised playpen made of chairs, large decked pillows, the back of the sofa and a blanket. The crackling in the fireplace startled him and made him laugh every time. He was gleefully playing with the little train toy that seemed to fascinate him a lot. Perhaps May would let him have it when they return to Atlantis, Teyla wandered.

She opened her eyes suddenly. John was standing before her, motionless.

"May I?" he asked, pointing to the empty seat beside her.

"Of course."

She felt her heart being carried away, right out of her body. Their arms were touching. Their legs too. John watched the snowy horizon but she knew he was about to broach the subject she dreaded. So she decided to take the lead.

"What I feel for you is sincere John."

John forced himself to stare at the forest in front of them, and decided finally to let her continue without answering.

"Kanaan and I are no longer as close as we were before. My feelings for him have changed, and so did my feelings for you. I didn't expect what's happening. I find myself very surprised. I have always held a great admiration for you, and you know as well as I that we've get along right from the start. But now it seems… It seems I-I fell in l-love, with you."

She had said it! Teyla could see a slight smile on John's face as he continued to look away. The Athosian woman was silent. Sheppard continued:

"I neither understand, Teyla. I've always respected you. You know that. You've always been there, strong, solid, soothing… Beautiful…"

He sighed. Expressing his feelings had never been his cup of tea. He was good at boasting Rodney, and laughing at him, or at throwing two or three funny jokes… That was him! But with Teyla, now, he had the impression his stomach had leapt up into his throat. Damn, she was beautiful! How had he been able to live every day next to her without succumbing?

He could sense his awkwardness was shared; Teyla was feeling the same. They had finally opened their eyes, finally opened their heart but the change their feelings implied frightened them.

After a moment of silence, John began again:

"When I saw you in the control room with Michael, when I believed that he was once again going to take you, I really became aware that I held to you much more that I thought. I… What I mean is, it occurred to me how deep my feelings for you where."

Delicately, Teyla put her hand on his cheek.

"I don't know what is going to happen, John… How we are going to deal with this. All I know is that I have to tell Kanaan first. He is the father of my son. I owe him an explanation. I think he is aware something had broken between us. He is a good man, a great leader of my people. I cannot start a new relationship if things are not clear between him and me."

_Kanaan…_ Suddenly, John had the feeling that he was the worst man on Earth. And he was right. The Athosian was a good guy. A man who won Teyla's heart and her a baby. He felt like the thief of their happiness…

Teyla noticed his confusion and gently tightened her fingers on his face.

"Kanaan and I are over. We did not want to admit it, that's all. Don't feel guilty or remorseful"

She was good at reading his thoughts.

"I don't love him the same way anymore. I-"

The shock of a heavy backpack someone had thrown down at their feet made them jump. Instinctively they both released the other and each retreated to the ends of the bench. A few steps away from them, Ronon was observing them with a dark look.

"You're back! I knew we needn't worry!" Sheppard said, jumping to his feet. "Is everything OK? We didn't even hear you arrive! Where's Banks?"

Ronon continued to stare at them without speaking. John looked away and sought Teyla's help. Chewie had certainly seen them; perhaps he had also heard what they were talking about… John knew his friend's opinion on a possible relationship between Teyla and him; he felt like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar… Strange feeling when you're in your forties!

"How is Amelia?" Teyla asked with much self-assurance while meeting the inquisitive glance of her friend.

Before such an aplomb, Ronon has to capitulate:

"She's fine. We're both fine. We've even brought someone along…" Ronon growled as if blasé as he walked toward the entrance of the chalet.

OooooO

Everyone was gathered in the lounge. Amelia and Ronon's return was a relief for everyone in the house. Jennifer gave her friends her best hugs and Teyla even offered her Athosian forehead-to-forehead embrace to Ronon. And Rodney had came back to his senses again, or so:

"Ernest? Ernest Matthews?" Rodney exclaimed.

"Shrimpy! My, you're a real grown up now; last time I saw you, you couldn't reach my shoulders!" Ernest exclaimed with enthusiasm as he clapped an arm across Rodney's shoulders.

Once free, Rodney instantly pointed a menacing finger at John.

"Shut up!"

"I didn't say anything!" John defended himself.

"But you were about to!"

"Come on, _Meredith_! Stop seeing evil everywhere… _Shrimpy__'s_ cute, I already like it!" John savored the way the nickname sounded in his mouth. He continued: "Believe me I'm gonna reserve it for special occasions only!"

Before Rodney's exasperated face, John introduced himself to Matthews:

"I'm Lieutenant-Colonel John Sheppard of the American Air Force, pleased to meet you, sir." He shakes Matthews' hand.

"Likewise, son!"

Curiously, as John tried to take back his hand the old man seemed reluctant to let go. He was looking in John's eyes as if he wanted to scan the soldier's mind. A feeling of uneasiness came over John. But before a too long and awkward silence settle, Ernest finally released him and put his hand on his chest the same way he had done in front of Amelia in the hut.

_Curious guy,_ John thought.

"Yeah, err… You already know Rodney, Ronon and Amelia. Let me introduce you with Teyla Emmagan and Doctor Jennifer Keller."

Ernest greeted the girls with a nod.

Suddenly they heard a horn from outside. They all went to the door, Teyla in front ready to open it. Outside, a huge buzzing snowplow had parked in front of the house barely leaving place to Jeannie and her pickup.

"Hi everybody!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "I've brought food! You should thank Sam here, he kindly opened the way for me!"

Half concealed behind the snowy window of his engine, _Sam _greeted the lot with a sway of the hand before initiating a U-turn and leaving the now snow-cleared yard.

"Ernest? 'God! How are you!" Jeannie warmly asked, taking the old man in her arms.

"Jeannie? Time goes by too fast! You were pretty as a child, but look at you now! You look stunning!"

"Flatterer!" Jeannie laughed, with a warm smile. "Is everything OK for you?"

"Oh, don't worry, your friends took care of my house for me," he said, indicating Amelia and Ronon. "I left for Whistler to visit my son, Davis, the day before the storm and those two found themselves fighting a Grizzly bear in front of the hut! Can you believe it?"

"The telephone lines should be repaired in two or three hours!" Jeannie announced while unloading with Ronon two large bags of groceries from the pick-up rear.

"How did the night go? No foolishness in my absence?"

The lot exchanged furtive glances…

"We'll discuss all this at lunch if you don't mind," muttered Rodney.

"I have to leave" Ernest broke in. "It's been a pleasure to meet you all, and catch up with old friends…"

"Please, Ernest! Stay with us for dinner!" Jeannie asked. "We'll talk about the wonderful summers we spent here!"

"Yeah, Ernest, you'll tell us some nice anecdotes about our beloved Meredith," John added, his best grin into place.

Everyone had come back inside the house except Rodney; the scientist was standing motionless and morose on the porch. _For sure, it's going to be the longest day ever… _he thought exasperated_._

_TBC…_


	11. Chapter 11: An Indian legend

_**Thanks to Jen-NCIS-lover, Melraemorgan, Terri and Dani for the reviews. **__**I will post more frequently now.**_

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Chapter 11: An Indian legend**

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"This creature was literally trying to devour my arm!" Rodney whined with his face as red as a peony.

"Sure, McKay! Everybody k-knows caterpillars are c-carnivorous in Canada!" John managed to articulate between bouts of uncontrollable laughter.

Lunch was exactly as awful as Rodney had been afraid it would be: a merciless enumeration of the worst moments of shame he endured in Whistler as a child. Jeannie had fun telling how during a walk in the forest, once, her brother had hidden himself in an empty tree trunk for three hours in an attempt to escape a wapiti that wanted to eat his cereal bar.

The atmosphere was light and friendly. Ronon was proudly wearing a bandage Jennifer had neatly wrapped on his arm. The young woman had assured him his injuries were mostly superficial even if he could expect to add a new scar to his collection.

Everyone around the table honored the delicious meal Jeannie and Amelia had prepared.

Rodney, who was barely recovering from their deafening morning discovery, somehow welcomed the mockeries of his companions without grumbling. Teyla and John said nothing about Jennifer's pregnancy; this honor belonged to the future parents.

In fact, John and Teyla had their own problems to deal with; Ronon would not stop looking their way, casting them moralizing glances. In the end he was practically staring at them without interruption.

"OK, that's enough now, Jeannie!" McKay begged his sister as she was about to tell another story where the scientist had once again found himself in a more than awkward situation further to his meeting with a skunk.

At that precise moment, Jennifer stood abruptly, a hand in front of her mouth. She just had the time to falter two words of apology before rushing to the bathroom. The sound that reached them through the wall put an end both to the souvenir session and to Rodney's ordeal.

"Was my roast so bad!" Jeannie asked confused. "It's weird, you know; it reminds me of when I was pregnant with Madison, I couldn't bear the smell of the pork."

Then it hit her; an expression of total stupefaction on her face, she turned slowly to stare at her brother.

"Oh my God, is Jennifer pregnant?"

Ronon froze with the fork at the entrance of his mouth and Amelia almost choked on the water she had just swallowed.

John and Teyla lowered quietly their eyes to their plates.

And as if he was remarking the irony of the situation, Torren emitted his usual small crystalline laughter.

"You're gonna have a baby!" Jeannie's voice passed through bewilderment to delight. "My God, Meredith, you're gonna be a daddy!" she screamed and threw her arms around his neck.

Rodney was suffocating under Jeannie's weight; she had leant over in her chair to embrace him and was losing equilibrium. When Jennifer came back a bit pale from the bathroom, Jeannie jumped up on her feet with an excited cry:

"I'm gonna be auntie Jeannie!"

Jennifer gave a dark look to Rodney who winced silently and raised his shoulders in a sign of confusion.

"She guessed alone!" he defended himself.

"Secretive!" Jeannie teased. "How long have you known? You know what, Jen? I had a doubt since the moment I saw you at the hospital. You were so pale and tired but you also had this kind of "aura", you know, the "future-mom aura"."

"Oh please, Jeannie…" Rodney threw with a cynical tone.

"Meredith, you're my brother and I love you, but, you can be so blind sometimes!" Jeannie replied.

Rodney didn't know what to say…

"So, how long?" Jeannie carried on.

Jennifer didn't want to relate the entire story because of Ernest but she only talked about the fall, their fear about the experiments she had conducted with a "new" virus, her tiredness. The Atlanteans and Jeannie understood.

"We've decided it would be best if we went by the hospital this afternoon to have it confirmed."

"Well, that's great news!" Ronon exclaimed. "Did you know it?" he asked John and Teyla.

"We were there this morning when McKay did the scan" John answered.

During the next hour, Jen's pregnancy was the only subject of conversation.

"Jennifer, Shrimpy, Congratulations!" Ernest added in turn. "We must celebrate this event! I would like to invite you all to my sister's birthday this evening in Pemberton. You need to cheer up and have a little fun! And there will be food and dance… We'll drink in your honor!"

"Well… Maybe Jennifer should take some rest, you know…" Rodney began, looking at the young woman.

"Meredith, Please! She's pregnant, not dying!" Jeannie cried in appall and amusement. "I have an excellent herb tea recipe that stops nausea during the first months of pregnancy! It worked fine for me when I was waiting for Madison. I'm gonna prepare some for you, Jen. Besides, leaving the house and seeing other people will be good for you!"

"Eating and drinking, huh? I'm in!" Ronon exclaimed.

"That's going to be fun!" Sheppard remarked.

The girls had all agreed; and Rodney finally gave in to the general opinion.

"Great! Ernest, thanks a lot for your invitation, you can count on us," Jeannie told him in a complete euphoria. She served the dessert, throwing excited glances towards her brother who pretended not to see her. Jennifer finally began to enjoy herself.

The conversation took a new bend when Ernest began to question Sheppard about his work.

"So, you all work for the Air Force?"

"No…" Sheppard answered. "It's just the four of us", he said pointing out Jennifer, Amelia, Rodney. "But I'm the only US soldier here… »

"And you're all on leave?"

"Yes. And we all came to help Rodney."

"It's very generous of you… Amelia told me that she had Cherokee ancestors. What about you, Sheppard? Some Indian blood in your veins?"

"Irish blood, actually. My great-great-grandfather arrived in New York in 1852."

"Interesting… My people used to live on these lands for more than 10,000 years before the white man colonized them. We, Cherokee, are a proud people and we attach very great importance to our roots and culture, you know."

"I bet you have lots of beautiful stories and legends to tell about your people," Teyla added. She was appreciating the composed and soothing side of the old man more and more.

"Indeed. Our history is full of wondrous myths and legends. It's a quite impressive mythology. Unfortunately, although we try to pass on the legacy of our ancestors to our children, over time they get lost with each generation…"

"By the way, does your nephew still live here?" Rodney asked. "I'm sorry, I've forgotten his name… Was it Tuck… or Hank?"

Ernest's face darkened suddenly.

"_Zack_… He's always close by but he's not welcome at home." The tone in which these words had been uttered was unmistakable. "Some members of our own family are sometimes capable of things we would never have imagined being possible."

_Zack_; the mystery was finally solved. Ernest turned his gaze to John. And just like a few hours earlier, when they had been introduced, the soldier felt the glance of the old Indian pressing on him in a strange way.

"Zackary's father, my brother, died last year…"

"I'm sorry…" John replied.

"Oh, death is only the next step, you know; it's a pact we all sign the day we are born. Anyway, my brother was a good man whereas Zack… E-even as a child there was something bad in his eyes…"

"_See, now?__ I told you…_" was 'written' all over Rodney's face, remembering his friends of the Einstein figurine fight story.

"Zack feels ashamed of his Squamish origins. He rejects all of our customs and faiths. His father never refused him anything. Everybody, including me, let him do what he wanted to do… But I'd rather tell you one of our most famous legend rather than speak about my nephew if you don't mind…"

"Sure, that would be a pleasure!" Amelia exclaimed joyfully.

"It makes better effects on the tourists if there's a good campfire, but I'm sure this delicious cake can work too…

So, let's begin: one of our legends tells of the legendary Hawk living in the area. The Hawk was dreaded by all but was also known for His kindness towards the innocent people able to find Him.

Very powerful superior beings, we call "creatures of the thunder", decided to give the Hawk means to contact them if He needed it. They explained to Him a rite which consisted of drawing a circle, bringing in offerings, inviting animals, and thanking the Big Spirit through a calling song. The Hawk respected the rite and called upon them. And He became more and more powerful with times; so much powerful that His pride grew accordingly.

One day The Hawk had invited all the animals of the forest to show them how he was able to call the creatures of the thunder. But He decided He needn't to respect the song part of the rite. The superior beings came nevertheless but before the Hawk could end the rite, the Big Spirit made Him vanish and chastised Him. The punishment consisted of serving the creatures of the thunder instead of using their power.

Always to follow them where they go, the Hawk then sometimes appeared to some as a trail of clouds or, sometimes, as a tongue of fire. But legend says that it is only to people with very good sight that the Hawk appears under his original form: a "thunderbird".

The punishment by the Big Spirit is said to last for as long as the Hawk has not learnt the pleasure of remaining humble and within his own place in the universe."

They'd all listened to the old man's story with great attention and interest.

"It's a beautiful story," Jennifer said. "Who were the creatures of the thunder? Were they gods or something?"

"Ancient gods indeed… It is said that whenever they would appear, the thunder would precede the flutter of their wings and that the sky would welcome them with flashes of light. In fact, the house of the Bird of Thunder is not very far from here. I think we can even see it from here. In Squamish we call it _T'ak't'ak mu'y'in tl'a in7iny'a'xe7en_* but the rest of you better know it as Black Tusk peak."

It was almost 2PM when the old Indian decided that it was time for him to return home. They all got up to accompany him outside.

"I'll be back here at 8PM so we can all go together to my sister's party. In the mean time, I have a cocktail of mine to prepare. I call it "Water of Fire". But do not worry if you drink too much of it tonight; my sister will be more than please to share her house with you: she rents rooms for tourists but it is dead calm as of late!" the old man told them while riding his skidoo. "Thank you for the lunch!"

Amelia stood next to John on the steps as they watched the old man leaving. When they both turned to get inside, their eyes met and they knew they had the same strange sensation concerning Ernest Matthews: somehow the Indian had tried to probe their soul.

TBC…

* Found on Wikipedia.


	12. Chapter 12: Blood ties

**Chapter 12: Blood ties**

"My Roddie's gonna be a daddy! I am so happy! Come here so I can kiss you!"

McKay gently tried to avoid asphyxia as his face was squeezed between May's two solid hands. When she'd finally covered her nephew with all the affectionate kisses she could, the scientist stood up with difficulty and threw a murderous look at his sister who was wearing an ear-to-ear smile.

"Thank you very much, Jeannie," he whispered sarcastically whilst passing in front of her. "I'm sorry, May, but we must go see Dr Callahan now or we'll be late.

"You better come back after, I mean both Jennifer and yourself" the old lady warned them friendly.

"Of course, May, don't worry… Besides, my friends will also be there with us too Ronon."

"Excellent! I'll be glad to see them again! …Dear God! I still can't believe you're gonna be dad!"

"I'll stay with her," Jeannie whispered to Rodney. "You can go, Meredith…"

OoooooO

The team, minus Jennifer and Rodney, walked down Whistler white streets, looking for a birthday gift for Ernest's sister; they couldn't afford to arrive empty-handed at the party, especially since they could be staying the night there. Passing through a small park, they met a couple of lovers who were holding hands. They looked so happy and carefree… Amelia smiled, casting them a glance as they passed by.

Ronon noticed her quick glance. _Take her hand, act as a normal boyfriend, he _thought_. __Take her in your arms and kiss her in the middle of the park…_

"Ronon? Are you alright?" Amelia asked confused.

He had not realized he had slowed down his pace, almost stopping, while his three companions had continued their way. Why was love acting so difficult? Amelia was very important to him; he could not deny that. Actually, she was becoming more and more important every day. Plus there were signs: whenever Chuck was approaching her on Atlantis, Ronon could feel rage rising in his stomach slowly reaching his chest. Sometimes he could not help but look at her through the crowded corridors of the city. She was sweet, beautiful and intelligent. She was strong but also always on her guard, just like himself…

He quickly caught up with the rest of the group as they finally arrived before a small store which seemed to be the perfect place for all sorts of birthday gifts.

"Wow! This one looks perfect!" John exclaimed, brandishing a tiny baby T-shirt that read I LOVE GOLF in big red letters. "Sorry, miss, do you have it in a baby size 0? With the matching cap...?" he asked the saleswoman.

Witnessing John's enthusiasm, Teyla looked up to heaven.

"May I remind you, John, that we came here to find a gift Ernest's sister's birthday," she sighed.

It was Amelia, however, who found the perfect present: a beautiful and colorful wool shawl. While she and Teyla were gone to pay for the shawl, Ronon patted John's shoulder and pointed out through the window to two men talking on the other side of the street.

"Isn't it Ernest over there?" the Satedan asked.

"He sure looks a lot like him…"

The old Indian seemed to be engaged in a rather enlivened argument with younger than himself but also exceeding him in height by at least two heads. Seeing the younger man about to physically threaten their new friend, Ronon left the shop and hurriedly crossed the street, closely followed by John.

"A problem, Ernest?" John asked hastily, jumping in to intervene between the big guy and the Satedan, and also any unpleasantness that might ensue.

At that moment, he felt like a little slice of ham between two giant pieces of bread.

"'seems you have bodyguards now, Ernest?" the man said, defying Ronon's gaze over John's head.

"Just like yourself, Zack…" the sexagenarian replied, nodding his chin in the direction of two sinister-looking guys leaning against a 4x4 parked a little further away from them. "I see you still chose well your companions… Now, clear off! Leave this town. We have nothing to say to each other anymore," Ernest told him, ready to cross the street.

"You see, my dear _uncle_, unfortunately for you I'm not gonna ready to leave this town. In fact, I think I'll make a small appearance tonight at Aunt Lily's anniversary…"

Ernest returned to face him threateningly.

"I forbid you to cross the threshold of her house! You may have bamboozled some members of this family with your tricks, but _I_ know what you really are! I keep my eyes on! I know it was you who stole Sam's totem. And for what reason, huh? To whom did you sell it? Some crook probably! Tell me, was it enough to pay your bookmakers? Your father would turn in his grave if he could see what you became!"

"Yeah, I missed the sermon! I'm the unworthy son, blabla… When was the last time you served me that one? I don't owe you anything, Ernest. If I sold something, that's because it was mine; mine to deal with, mine to do whatever I want to do with. Everything my _wonderful_ father possessed belongs to me now and I don't have to justify anything I've done!

"It belonged to the entire family, as it has for generations!"

"Drab and uninteresting charms, Ernest! Pottery, necklaces… But we both know that we could make a lot of money if you weren't so stubborn…" Zachary Matthews whispered close to his uncle's face, not wanting our two Lantians to hear his words.

"That's enough now!" John snubbed the young Indian.

Zack abruptly turned towards the soldier, visibly annoyed by his GI Joe manners and by his hairy friend.

Amelia and Teyla chose that moment to join them, Torren's hands in theirs as their tried to learn him how to walk.

"Are we interrupting?" Amelia tried, feeling the electric atmosphere.

Seeing the women and the child, Zack flaunted a charming face and his best smile, as if everything was going well in the brave new world.

"Good evening, ladies! It is a pleasure to meet two women of such a breathtaking beauty, here, in Whistler! Let me introduce myself, I'm Zack Matthews."

And to everyone's surprise, he took Amelia's hand in an attempt to kiss it. The gesture had been too fast for the woman to react; but not for Ronon… The Satedan had rushed to smash his fist in Zack's jaw. Fortunately, John intervened in time to stop the confrontation. He noticed Ernest was trying to do the same with his nephew, but…

"Zack! No!"

Too late.

Shock and bewilderment immediately appeared on the young Indian's face as he touched Amelia's skin. The contact had felt like an electrical discharge.

He quickly dropped her hand and stared at her as if he had seen the Devil himself.

"Who are you?" he whispered, stepping back from her.

Then, he turned his gaze swiftly to his ill at ease uncle, seeking an explanation in the older man's face.

"Let's get going!" was the only response from the old Indian who abruptly pushed everyone to cross the road, leaving his nephew paralyzed and alone on the sidewalk.

OooooO

_Breathe! Breathe! Hyperventilate! That's it, something's happening; the shock's passing… I can feel the hypoglycemia… Maybe I'll pass out – and wake up bandaged from head to toe like that guy in the next room! __Oh, please, stop it, Rodney! My God! Jennifer is pregnant! Pregnant with your baby! _

_It's good! It's wonderful! It's fantastic! It's- My God! I'm panicking! No! A daddy! It's impossible! It's too early! The doctor said six weeks! Jennifer said something about a picnic…? I remember, I think… It was… a Tuesday evening…__That'll teach me to plan a romantic dinner on the beach in the middle of her ovulation period__! __In addition to that, the only time we didn't use__ a…. Damn Cadman and her idea to play poker and make my girlfriend drunk! The result: __an upset stomach and a pill that ended up in the toilet__! No more doubts, it's the curse!_

_Ok, Rodney, stop it! It's not a curse! It's Jennifer! The woman you love! You're gonna be a father… __You'll be responsible for the life of another human being__… You will be responsible… HELP!_

Jeannie entered the waiting room and saw her brother sitting prostrate in a chair, seemingly staring into a void of nothingness.

"Meredith, how did it go?" she calmly asked and took a seat beside him.

"Perfect! Everything's perfect! She had an ultrasound scan and we were able to see the… well, you know…"

He finally had been able to clearly see the ten millimeters developing life already floundering in Jennifer's protective lap. The only guess was the sex of the baby, but it was too soon. A head, sketches of arms and legs, and a tiny, wildly beating heart… The miracle of life.

Rodney's blood pressure had shot up during the scan, but in the same time he had felt some strange delight invading his body and soul. Thus, he found himself unable to budge his eyes from the sound scan's screen.

"Jen's taking another blood test. I'm gonna fill and sign some papers the hospital needs before we leave. That should kill the time until she comes back."

"So…? Everything's fine with the baby?"

"Fortunately. I control the situation perfectly. After all, Jennifer and I are responsible adults and as we are in love, a baby is …" He tried to display his most serene face, the face of a man who had always controlled the situation.

"Fine?" Jeannie replied.

"Fine," Rodney repeated.

A heavy silence settled between them.

"You know, Caleb spent the entire night sitting on our porch the day we learned I was pregnant."

"Really?"

"Neither of us had expected it to happen so soon. I was struggling to publish my third article on the spectral subspaces, Caleb had just received a negative response for a teaching post he coveted at the time, and there wasn't really much money to raise a baby. We had moved in the new house only a month before and…" She stopped and looked at her brother. "You, on the other hand, were probably already in a process of saving both our galaxies…"

"Probably…" Rodney replied with a chuckle.

Jeannie savored her victory: a ray of sunshine had finally appeared on her brother's face!

"He panicked, you know", she went on. "We sat outside for hours, wrapped in a blanket, just talking. I know it's ridiculous…" Her remembrance of that particular souvenir made her smile. She paused for a few seconds.

"Caleb felt so bad, so helpless… He wanted so much for us, for both of us… And suddenly everything was changing! He was afraid of not being a good father, not being up to it, not being able to provide for his family. He was just not prepared…"

Rodney remained silent. _Not being up to it_. That was exactly how he felt himself, and it was the first time in his entire life – or not… _ Remember your first P-90 shooting session! _He thought_._

Rodney had always accepted the fact he would never be an ace for physical activities, but it does not mean he had no talents whatsoever; he surpassed everyone regarding physics, astrophysics, math, or computing, etc. Babies though were an entirely new area…

Jeannie was trying to get him out of his nutshell; he knew her methods by heart. Yet it had always been difficult for him to deal and show his emotions, his feelings, in particular when they involved the people he cared about. Feelings had always seemed irrational for him and he didn't take the time to develop them, to learn their subtleties and the way to act upon them.

His relationship with Jennifer was a miracle. She was the woman of his life, the woman he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with! It seemed so obvious to him, now. She had helped him progress so much: he had finally managed to acknowledge his interest in her, he had learnt not to be afraid of being himself. As a matter of fact, that's probably what had made Jen's heart melt.

Ronon Dex had no chance at all against Rodney McKay. From the beginning, Jen's heart was Rodney's and vice versa. She was made for him: splendid, intelligent, funny. In one word, she was _perfect_… And now, she was giving him a child!

The lump in his throat tightened.

"What happened then?" he asked Jeannie, stammering out the words.

"We talked a lot, and finally we began to understand our reactions were absolutely normal. Maddie was the fruit of our love; she was going to be the most loved child in the world! She was loved even before she was born. Why do you think parents are so worried by the welfare of their unborn child? I'm sure you have your doubts, Rodney, but I'm also sure Jennifer has hers; she's probably more afraid than you are. And all this shows only one thing: you already are considering this baby, you already _loving_ it…"

"Me, having doubts? Don't be silly!"

"Rodney…"

"OK, OK, I'm scared! Happy now? But Jennifer seems so calm, so self-assured… It's like… It's like she has all of this planned already. And… I feel like everything is drifting away from me; I'm afraid to become a terrible dad. You know me, I feel ill at ease with children all the time!" his own words made McKay's heartbeats quicken; he irrationally thought he would soon be suffering from tachycardia.

"Calm down, Mer. You should talk to her, about… this …you're feelings. Everything's gonna be OK for you both, you'll see. Besides, I'm confident that you'll make a very good father. A narcissistic, cynical, and incredibly insufferable hypochondriac one sometimes, but a wonderful father nonetheless…"

Jeannie slipped her hand into her brother's. Since she was back in his life, he reflected, she had always been there when he needed her. Even if he hadn't wanted to admit it at first, he had missed his sister a lot. He realized, at that very moment, how lucky he was to have her; she was sometimes maddening and obviously less intelligent than him, but still extraordinary.

"I'm not narcissistic", he replied somewhat offended, as usual. "In fact, I'm always right; it's not the same thing! And guess what? I just realized something!"

Jeannie chuckled.

"What? I'm ultimately the most sensible of us?"

"No, I realized that I'm still incredibly happy!"

OooooO

"I don't know about you, but I find this guy very unpleasant."

"Yep. I hope for his sake he doesn't come tonight," Ronon said.

"Anyway, Ernest was also quite strange… He's nice, but strange. Funny family, it seems… Well, we should get back to the hospital now. Keller asked some doctor to examine your wounded arm and she also wants me to have a head scan…"

"You can go ahead", Amelia replied pulling Teyla by the arm. "Teyla and I still have some shopping to do."

"You sure?"

"Yes, we have to buy one or two things for tonight," she explained, exchanging a look of complicity with the Athosian.

"Things like what?" Sheppard insisted.

"Things like evening gowns."

"Evening gowns? I look forward to that!" Ronon wondered, mocking.

"You know, there are women underneath those clothes. Did your military training make you forget that detail? We need to feel like woman, especially if there is a party. We'll take a gown for Jennifer too. Jeannie said she had what she needed. We won't be too long; I can see a promising shop over there."

"Can you watch after Torren?" Teyla asked, handing the boy over into John's arms.

Before he could make the slightest objection, the two women had already disappeared at the corner; he could hear them laughing.

OooooO

"Come in!" the old lady exclaimed, sitting up in her bed.

Ronon appeared in the doorway, Torren in his arms clutching with all his might to one of the Satedan's dreadlocks, and twisting it in all directions.

"Err… Glad to see you feel better… I thought maybe Jennifer or Jeannie were there?" he muttered, visibly distressed. Now, Torren began to reach for his beard.

May laughed.

"Give him to me." She pointed out the toddler. "And sit here a little; we'll talk while waiting for the girls. They'll be back before you know it. Have your friends ever let you down before?"

_Some question_, Ronon thought. For a second, Satedan Wraith-worshippers faces flickered in his mind eyes. He repressed them.

"Not yet", he replied. "Amelia and Teyla went down town to do shopping; they talked about evening gowns for Ernest's sister's birthday party. As for Sheppard, he said he was to call the base, but I'm sure he's also looking for something to wear tonight.

"Oh! I'd really love to come with you! That damn doctor forbade me to leave the hospital for at least two days! I can already imagine your friends looking dashing in their evening clothes; especially John. And the girls will wear something nice for sure; you all need to cheer up."

"So it seems… I never saw Banks wearing a dress before."

"So, what's going on between you two?"

Ronon looked down.

"We get along well."

"Oh, I see." May dropped the subject, momentarily, turning her attention to Torren, who was sitting in her lap. Finally, she asked, "How long ago did she die?"

Ronon froze confused. He looked at the old woman's perfectly serene face. He didn't understand the meaning behind the word at first, but suddenly, he realized who May was referring to.

It was hardly any of her business, and Ronon thought he should better leave the room. Yet, he did nothing and stayed put on May's bed.

The Satedan seemed to have developed affection for McKay's aunt. She reminded him of his grandmother; a strong, caring, and extremely intuitive woman. She had always known when something was bothering him.

"How do you…?"

"This ring in your hair", she pointed out again. "It's too small to be yours, dear. Oh, and let me just say, your apparent refusal to engage with such a charming woman as Amelia is a clear sign. She is in love with you, you know; and so are you - it shows in your eyes every time you take a look at the other… That, plus the sad and disillusioned face you wear… Only those who have experienced tragedy in the past can have your face; you seem so haunted… Do I need to say more?"

May had just touched the nerve. Ronon felt as though his bowels had turned cold and had to take a few seconds to reflect. Then he simply explained:

"It's been ten years now. An explosion in a hospital on my pl… In my country. She was nurse."

"You must have loved her immensely. But ten years is a much too long period to mourn and you are still so young… You can't just brush others' love and happiness because you fear to suffer again. Don't you see life is offering you another chance to be happy? It's an opportunity you cannot deny, it's rare. Do not let that gift pass you by."

May placed her hand over Ronon's. A soft sunbeam came to rest on Torren's cheek, tickling his skin with a warm touch, and his soft laughter resounded throughout the room.

_**TBC…**_


	13. Chapter 13: Let's go party !

_**A great "thank you" to all of you who are following this fic and to all of you who've taken the time to review**_**. **

**

* * *

Chapter 13: Let's go party!**

* * *

"Ladies, Ernest will be here soon! Are you finally done, or are we going to be going without you?"

"It's good, we're finished!" came a muffled voice from within the depths of the bathroom.

Some seconds later, the door opened and four fabulous creatures exited, one after the other. Sheppard, Ronon and McKay froze, literally dazzled. Jennifer wore an amazing blue tunic which came out at the waist, sublimating her blond hair. Rodney could not restrain a _Wow!_ of admiration. Teyla, looking sumptuous in her own outfit, had chosen a backless gown in the color of glimmering rubies, carefully matched to the color of her lips. Carmine earrings embellished her clothes. Her almond eyes were fringed with brown and she'd put her hair up so that it merely brushed her neck. John, with an opened mouth, was speechless, completely hypnotized. Noticing his reaction, the Athosian woman began blushing. Jeannie, who'd left the bathroom after Teyla, wore a small, black wrap, her hair perfectly surrounding her face, matched with an onyx pendant. Radiant.

"I knew we shared the place with the most beautiful women in the country – oh, sorry – the Milky Way! But I must say, I am blown away by the sight of so many beauties together!" Sheppard exclaimed. However, his eyes had not left Teyla's during his speech.

Rodney reiterated his _Wow!_, even more visibly in shock than his friend. Then, it was Amelia who appeared, last to join the group. Ronon rose from the sofa like a robot in slow motion. She'd chosen a mid-length emerald dress with long sleeves and a subtle neckline, and she was entitled to a significant raising of eyebrows on the part of Sheppard and McKay.

"Banks… What a change!" the serviceman faltered.

To complement this, she'd worn heeled brown leather boots and magnificent silver Creoles. She'd slightly shaded her eyes, put some gloss on her lips and worked her hair back into two thin braids.

Whilst Rodney emitted his third consecutive _Wow!_, Ronon remained utterly silent, standing perfectly still as he regarded the young woman who felt suddenly a touch ill-at-ease to have all eyes on her.

"Braids, that was my idea! I thought it would harmonize nicely with Ronon's look," Jeannie launched, all perky. "Oh and look at you, gentlemen! You are handsome! Sneaky boys! I see the girls weren't the only ones hitting the shops this afternoon!"

John, Rodney and Ronon were actually very elegant… All three had shown that they did indeed care for their look for the evening. A casual white shirt and dark jacket for John, highlighting the color of his eyes; gray tones for Rodney, and Ronon dressed entirely in black. The Satedan had tied her hair back to free his face. Teyla would even bet that he had tail his goatee… John had apparently tried to comb his hair too… Waste of time. And Rodney… remained Rodney.

"Well, it's nice of you to say so, Jeannie. And, yes, you would be correct in your assertion; I did make a few small purchases this afternoon," Sheppard spoke.

"There was some difficulty in finding something in Ronon's size, but we got there in the end…"

"You're gorgeous!" Amelia exclaimed.

"Now, if we could just all stop marveling at one another long enough to don our coats, that would be magnificent! Ernest will be here soon," Rodney replied, slightly flustered.

"What was it you said, Rodney?" Sheppard asked jokingly. "You were saying just before that it had taken you an entire hour in front of the mirror to get your look right!"

"Alright, John!"

At that precise moment, they were interrupted by the sound of Ernest's car, pulling up and stopping in front of the house.

OoooooO

_She liked to breathe in the scent of his skin. A subtle and intoxicating fragrance. When he kissed her neck, with small strokes, she began to shiver. Then, with the tips of her fingers, she drew down the line of his spine to his buttocks. She also loved to feel his body on hers, his warmth, his desire, his power… His sweetness, too… His mouth descended on her breasts, his tongue caressed her belly… She closed her eyes and pulled his face up to meet hers, pleased when he looked her straight in the eye. His eyes… his hands…He crept into her slowly, savoring her lips with fever. They interlaced their burning fingers. He began waving with flexibility and she followed his every move. They became one. The pace quickened. She was soon on the edge of the abyss. A wave of pleasure submerged her. She fell into the void…_

"Amy. We're here."

The young woman's eyes snapped open suddenly. Beside her, Ronon had on a big smile. The others had already got out of the car.

"Oh, humm… Sorry, I was gone… elsewhere… in my thoughts…" stammered the woman, her cheeks on fire.

She tried then to calm the beating of her heart, but when Ronon took her hand to help her from the car, the contact with his warm fingers was like electricity, exciting her heartbeat further.

"I was there, too?"

"What?"

"In your thoughts…"

In response, Amelia returned his smile.

"Are you coming?" Rodney called from Lily's porch.

OoooooO

In the vast dining room of Lily Campbell's Bed & Breakfast, there looked to be already a good thirty guests, all talking cheerfully, it seemed, with glasses in hand. When the team, preceded by Ernest, appeared on the threshold, the sparkling fifty-something came to welcome them warmly.

"You remember Shrimpy!" Ernest exclaimed.

"Of course! Oh, my little Meredith, I'm so glad to see you! Jeannie! Come in! I'm very pleased to welcome you all here tonight! And by the way, how is that dear May?"

"First off, we'd all just like you say Thank You for your invitation and Happy Birthday," replied Rodney, kissing the old lady's cheek. "And speaking of May, she was naturally furious that she would have to miss your birthday, you know her!"

"Ah, I know that your aunt is a force of nature! I will go to see her tomorrow. But in the meantime, why don't you introduce me to your friends!"

Rodney did, and all were invited to join the bar. The atmosphere was very friendly and newcomers were quickly assailed by many questions from family members of their host. A nephew of Lily was in charge of music and had chosen a mix of the old standards of American soul and rock, much to John's immense pleasure. Teyla, who'd wrapped Torren in his little jacket, was kindly escorted to a room transformed into a small dormitory where small beds were installed. Apparently, many children were here tonight and she could lay her son down to rest, warm and away from the noise, amongst other kids of all ages.

"Don't worry, he will sleep well here and if you decide to stay tonight, your room will be just down the hall," Maya, one of Lily's niece, assured her. "You'll be able to hear him if he wakes in the night."

The Athosian woman thanked her and joined the rest of her friends, the quiet spirit. Or rather, not so quiet. The way John looked at her as she rejoined the group awakened a terrible frustration inside her… No… She had decided to talk to Kanaan before starting anything… But tonight, he was so attractive… So sexy…

"Teyla? Are you OK?"

The young lady emerged suddenly from her thoughts to see that Ronon stood before her, an offering of a drink outstretched in his hands, waiting for her to take it from him.

"Oh, thank you very much, Ronon. I have put Torren down to sleep and all is well."

"Humm… You know, I want to apologize for my attitude earlier."

Teyla looked him straight in the eye and he lowered his own.

"What happens between you and Sheppard is of nobody's concern but your own."

"Ronon, thank you for your concern and thank you for respecting my choices."

The Satedan bowed his head in assent. A voice from the other side of the room announced that the buffet was open.

OooooO

"You'll try some!" exclaimed Ernest, filling the glasses of Sheppard, Ronon and Rodney almost to the brim.

"Woah! Slowly! At this rate, we'll have to ask one of the girls to go lightly on the drinks so that they can drive us home!" John replied.

The boisterous chorus of the Rolling Stones sounded suddenly to warm the atmosphere a little more. At the sound of the voice of Mick Jagger and his "satisfaction", Ronon swallowed the colorless liquid in one go under the gaze of his dazed cronies. Ernest smiled.

"A real warrior!" the old Indian exclaimed.

John and Rodney turned to regard Ronon. It wasn't the moment to wimps out!

"You will see, it's not so hard..." the ex-runner encouraged them.

"In fact, I was never particularly successful with alcohol…" Rodney stammered.

"When I was in college…"

"Come on, McKay! You will not let me down on that shot! And then, we need to celebrate your future paternity with dignity!" Sheppard said, swallowing the entire contents of his glass in a gulp.

"Congratulations, McKay!" Ronon exclaimed, brandishing a second glass.

"Cheers, Meredith!" Ernest added. "To the health of Jennifer and the baby!"

"OK… Then, to my imminent ethylic coma as a future father," grumbled the scientist, imitating the lieutenant colonel.

A trail of fire spread in his throat and esophagus. He stood a moment motionless, a blank stare gracing his features while he waited to see if he was going to collapse right away or if it would take a little longer.

"A real warrior, McKay!" Ronon barked encouragingly, hitting him with a strong pat on his back.

There were going to be plenty more than that… In addition to his digestive tract completely liquefying, he now had a dislocated shoulder!

OooooO

"This party is very nice," Amelia said, coming to sit next to Jennifer cut off in a quiet corner of the room.

"It is, isn't it? The people here are quite charming."

"We haven't had the opportunity to speak since my return… Are you OK?"

"Well, I must confess that the sudden turn of events comes as a surprise. It's confusing, scary… But I'm very happy. Rodney…" As she said these last words, she threw a glance towards the scientist apparently having a hard time in the bar surrounded by Sheppard and Ronon.

Teyla then came to join them and took the conversation on the march.

"I'm afraid that it all goes beyond him a little," Jennifer voiced uncertainly. "It's so sudden. We've been together only a few months and with the return of the City to Earth…"

"If you want my opinion, and I'm sure Teyla agrees with me, Rodney is absolutely crazy about you," Amelia told her. "You're a good person, Jen. You both are. He's bogged down by a spot of doubt a little right now, I think, which is normal, but everything will work out… The two of you, it was inevitable… He'll soon come to understand that this baby is a gift from Heaven, if he has not already done so."

Smiling, Jennifer lowered her eyes.

Teyla shared a collusive look with Amelia. She couldn't have said it better herself.

"Thank you, Amy… And thank you, Teyla, for supporting me always."

"You're welcome, Jennifer," the Athosian woman answered. "I'm happy if I helped you."

Jennifer then took a deep breath and decided it was time to talk about something other than herself.

"Well! So, Teyla! What about your relationship with John?" she asked, trying to keep the heaviness she felt from her voice.

Amelia glanced questioningly at the Athosian then back to Jennifer, obviously pleased with this turn of events.

"You and John Sheppard?" she whispered, leaning toward her friend.

Teyla capitulated. She cast a glance toward the bar. John was leaning there, laughing with Ronon and Rodney. Although the subject burned on her lips, longing to be spoken aloud, to be shared, Amelia refrained from talking about Kanaan. It was useless, she had understood. She had seen how the military man and the Athosian woman had gazed intently at each other since they had arrived in Whistler, how they had carefully avoided each other in the presence of others… And she had suspected that these two people were intended to be much more than friends… Their chemistry was obvious… She also had not forgotten Teyla's words, or the ultimatum of her companion, and the disappointment in her voice…

Nevertheless, the young lady thought to seek to justify herself in front of her friends.

"I didn't want…" she started, when Jennifer interrupted her.

"Teyla, John is adorable. You're two adults. These things happen without warning. You deserve to be happy, both of you."

It was now time for Amelia to acquiesce to a nod. Teyla rewarded them with a grateful smile.

"Good! We've talked about Rodney and me, John and Teyla, I think it's your turn, Amelia! How was your wild night with Ronon! And no secrecy!" Jennifer exclaimed.

OooooO

The temperature was still up a notch. The meal finished, it was time to open gifts. The Matthews-Campbell family was large and the hospitality of the Squamish people was exemplary. Lily adored the shawl offered by the Atlanteans and also the additional pair of earrings that Amelia and Teyla had unearthed in a store when they'd bought their outfits.

Rodney, who had managed to escape the third round of 'water-of-fire', joined Jennifer near the buffet.

They'd come to that time, the time chosen by Lily to do a little speech. Then, she raised her glass to the health of all the guests and seemed to burst into tears when her daughter and son brought the huge creamy cake covered with multicolored candles.

"My God! This cake is beautiful! Thanks, honeys!" she exclaimed, kissing David and Katy.

Once the gigantic pastry had been reduced to nothingness and the bottles of champagne almost emptied, the old lady, apparently filled, exclaimed cheerfully:

"And now, it's time to be a little bit romantic!" before pulling her poor nearby George by the arm.

The old man met cheek-to-cheek with her in the middle of the dance floor. She made a sign to her nephew. The music started. Otis Redding. _These arms of mine_. All across the dance floor, couple were forming, bodies were held near to one another.

"Miss Keller…" Rodney said, taking Jennifer's hand to lead her on the dance floor under the tender gaze of Jeannie.

"Dr McKay, I did not know that you danced."

"Of all my talents, it's the one in which I least pride myself," Rodney joked, laying his forehead gently against Jennifer's.

"Say, rather that you did not want to suffer another attack of rot-gut!"

"Ah! I am unmasked! But I also wanted to spend some time alone with you… And to tell you… that… I love you Jennifer Keller. I panic like a crazy man but I'll try to be a good father even though I know I have a sacred disability… But I swear I will do my best to do the best by you both."

"Shut up, my love!" Jennifer cried, with tears in her eyes, giving him a languorous kiss.

OooooO

"Amelia and you have a family relationship?" asked Ernest.

"No, not at all. Do you think we look alike?"

"Not physically, but I feel that you both have something in common," said Ernest, disappearing into the reserve behind the bar.

_This guy's really weird_, John thought as he began to feel the effect of Ernest's special drink, already lowering his inhibitions. Apparently Ronon was more tolerant to the alcoholic beverage than him, but it was now a good five minutes he'd been standing, staring out across the room without moving to the other end of the hall, where Amelia was talking with a brown guy who was obviously very interested in her. Sheppard rushed:

"You haven't yet told what happened the other night with Amelia… In the middle of the forest… in the Hut… just you two… alone…"

Ronon looked at him askance.

"OK, Chewie, if you don't want to talk about it…"

The Satedan took a sip of beer before deciding to answer.

"We are closer."

"Closer?"

"Very closer."

"Damn! I knew it! You're together…" Sheppard exclaimed, staring at his sidekick.

In the light of John's evident enthusiasm, Ronon raised his eyes to Heaven.

"What? I have the right to be happy for you! Banks is a great girl! Exactly what you need!"

"Delighted to know it."

Sheppard remained cautious in front of the reserved reaction of his friend.

"Apparently, there's a problem. It didn't go well?" John tried, surprised by his own rashness.

In fact, he had never really talked explicitly about sex with Ronon. Just hints, like that... Two or three anecdotes shared on their days off, just between men, but not really in detail… They had already arrived to share their opinions about the single feminine staff of the city: Teyla, of course; Elizabeth, sometimes; Sam Carter, and, most recently, Jennifer Keller, when she wasn't attending to McKay. This evening, the alcohol produced its small magic effect, and what amazed him most, was what it deciphered then on Ronon's face.

"Wait a minute… Look at me… Sure you had a good time… Ronon! You're in love with Banks!"

"Sheppard…"

"Blah, blah, blah…. It's blindingly obvious!"

With these words, they saw the young Indian and Amelia joining the other dancers.

"Buddy, if I were you, I wouldn't let a girl like this slip away!"

"This is the second time I'm hear this today," Ronon sighed.

Then suddenly he put his beer on the counter, gave John a pat on his shoulder and went to the dance floor.

OooooO

The darkness had invaded the room. Little touches of blue light emanated from the midnight blue ceiling, a canvas recalling the celestial dome. So, as a signal, the first notes sounded… _"Everything"_ by Lifehouse.

He battled through the embracing couples to get to Amelia and her cavalier. The young woman stiffened at his arrival. The poor Indian had turned and was looking up at the Satedan. Impressive. Maybe a bit too much for him and apparently, his partner would soon be nothing more than a memory…

"May I?" Ronon asked with a courtesy which amused Amelia a lot.

Reluctantly, the young Squamish moved away from the technician who comforted him with a big smile.

"I'll see you later, Nathan. I'll reserve you another dance, I promise…" she said, though he could tell she was trying hard to hide her sudden satisfaction at the events that had unfolded.

Ronon took her hand.

"Do you want to dance ?" she asked, a little surprised.

The deep voice of Jason Wade began the first verse when Ronon gently hugged Amelia. The Satedan stood motionless before her, just looking at her.

"OK, we can just…" she murmured.

_You are the light to my soul…*_

"listen to the music…" she added.

Their bodies got closer, first with hesitation, then with evidence. Their eyes were glued to each other. Ebony eyes against jade pupils… Around them, the shadows were moving slowly.

_You calm the storms and you give me rest…*_

They did not need to talk. They simply enjoyed the moment that they were sharing, lulled, feeling their hearts beat in unison. Amelia stopped breathing. With his hand, Ronon caressed her neck and leaned slowly towards her… Was it still a dream?

_You're all I want, you're all I need…*_

Their lips touched… There was nobody around them… Nothing more to hide… Everything was clear…

_You're everything…*_

There was only the starry sky above them.

**TBC…**

* * *

* Lyrics from _Everything_, performed by Lifehouse. (Lyrics and music: Jason Wade.)


	14. Chapter 14: Disappearance

_**I'm in a good mood today so I post … Also for Melraemorgan who waits for more action. **__**We can say it's a beginning…**_

_**

* * *

Chapter **__**14: **__**Disappearance**__**…**_

* * *

The party was about to end. Most of the guests had already left, and as our small group had been kindly invited they decided to spend the night there instead of facing a dangerous journey back to the cottage into the cold and dark. In addition, judging by the crimson color on his cheeks and the stupid smile attached to his lips for an hour, it seemed Rodney finally had had a great time.

"Jeannie! Jennifer! You're going to bed already?" Bellowed the scientist while Sheppard and Ronon, as tipsy as he was, looked at him, bemused.

In fact, each of them had something to celebrate and had let themselves go a bit. They had all become aware of important things: Ronon was in love again, Rodney was delighted to become a father and John could hope to be happy with Teyla.

"I see you all have appreciated Ernest's cocktail!" Jennifer lectured them.

"It's not my fault! They are the ones who made me drink! It was for celebrating this morning good news!"

"Oh, John, clearly you do not know what Rodney is capable of when he's drunk!" Jeannie laughed.

"Lt. Colonel Sheppard! If he vomits in the bedroom tonight, I swear you will deal with me!" Jennifer scolded.

"Eh! Doc! I have nothing to do with this!"

"You could have prevented him from drinking! You know Rodney does not hold his alcohol! How many glasses did he take? Five? Six?"

"It was his second" Ronon dropped trying to suppress a giggle. "And yet, he hardly drank half..."

"Jennifer!" Rodney exclaimed, his eyes slightly glazed. "I am a happy man! You're the most wonderful woman ever on Earth! Or rather, in the universe! And even in parallel dimensions! And even in the whole space-time continuum! And... "

"John… " started Jennifer, a bit irritated.

The soldier jumped off his stool in front of Keller's dark look and ordered Ronon to help him support a quite staggering McKay.  
The finale was when Teyla and Amelia came to attend the scene: Meredith Rodney McKay singing a song of Celine Dion, stuck between a hilarious Satedan and a giggling lieutenant colonel.

"Come on guys, bedtime! I think you need one good night sleep!" Lily said, coming to take them all to their respective rooms.

"Thank you for this wonderful evening Lily…" Jeannie began "…and I am really sorry for..."

" Forget it Jeannie, I found my husband and two of his friends drunk in a boat in the middle of Lillooet Lake the morning he knew I was pregnant with David! He had celebrated the event!"

"_Sometimes I am frightened but I'm ready to learn of the power of love!_" * Rodney shouted hoarsely, on a final and highly improbable note.

There were only two bedrooms available. The boys got the one with three single beds. The girls took the largest. Rodney, under the influence of the alcohol had already begun to snore like a 33-tonner.  
Jennifer rejoiced. Make separate rooms for the night would be a blessing and a good punishment for Ronon and Sheppard, who, she hoped, were light sleepers...

OoooooO

A moonbeam filtered through the shutters. The boys were sleeping soundly: hoarse breathings emanating from all three beds, sign of a sleep sealed by the absorption of water-winded spirits. Ronon's feet were hanging at least thirty centimeters out of the bed. Sheppard was stretched on his stomach still wearing his clothes, and someone had covered Rodney's head with a pillow to muffle the chainsaw noises getting out of his wide open mouth. A small wood stove diffused gentle warmth inside the room. Several other family members had remained in the house for the night. The outside wind rocked the small black wooden panel that was hanging from a beam of the porch and which read "Lily's Bed and breakfast". Below the ocher paint inscription was a representation of a thunderbird holding a snake in its claws, its wings outstretched.  
Sheppard pulled up the blanket over him. Ronon grunted in his sleep. Then a figure stopped in front of the window and masked the moonlight.

OooooooO

Was he dreaming or someone was drumming on the door? He tried to escape from the limbo of sleep but refused to open his eyes.

"Meredith? Lieutenant colonel Sheppard?" exclaimed a female voice he identified as one of Lily's daughter, Kate.

John threw a clouded glance around him. Rodney's face was still covered by the pillow. Ronon slowly emerged too. With the impression of having a brain that weighed two tons, he woke up with difficulty and went to open the door. Kate Perkins was standing in the doorway in her nightdress, looking panicked with Torren in her arms.

"What's happening?" Sheppard asked, his thoughts suddenly reverted clear.

"Come and see by yourself!" Kate replied.

The soldier crossed the corridor and stood before the girl's wide open bedroom door. Nobody.

"Torren was crying and I thought that Teyla would come and see him. But after a while, I realized that something was wrong. So I got up to take him with me. I knocked on their door but there was no answer. The room was empty when I came in. So I thought they were with you ..."

"What time is it?"

"Five thirty. The day has not broken yet."

John was struggling to concentrate. Where could they be?

A muffled noise reached him from inside the closet. He ran and opened the door to discover Jeannie, gagged, ankles and wrists tied up, apparently trying to regain her senses. Sheppard was hastily untying and letting her out when Ronon finally showed up.

"What's happening, Sheppard?"

"We got a situation here! Bring McKay!"

Jeannie seemed groggy and had trouble standing up.

"Are you OK? What happened? Where are the girls?"

"I… I don't know… All I remember is that someone jumped on me in my sleep and then… nothing."

Rodney and Ronon came back running into the room.

"Jeannie! Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine… Just a horrible headache."

"The gagging smell of ether"said Sheppard.

"Their bags of clothes are no longer here." Ronon added.

It was Ernest and Lily's turn to arrive.

"The girls got missing and we found Jeannie tied up in the closet... An explanation?" Sheppard threw at Ernest whose face was grave.

"My God!" Lily exclaimed.

Torren began crying. Kate tried to reassure him.

"What does that mean John?" Rodney asked, more and more worried.

"I think our friend Ernest has something to say…"

The old Indian ran his hands over his forehead and silently faced the accusing eyes of the military man.

OoooooO

The four men were seating round the dining room table, a cup of coffee in front of them while Lily and Kate were taking care of Jeannie.

The eyes lowered and the face tensed, the old man could not shy away anymore. It was time to tell the truth.

"I think what happened last night is Zack's deed…"

"It's weird, but I suspected it" replied Sheppard.

"But why would he do that? What is the point of kidnapping the girls? He did not even know them!"

"Meredith, he saw Amelia yesterday… That's enough for him…" Ernest said.

Ronon was fuming

"Explain yourself and fast!" he growled.

"You and Amelia have something special..." said the old Indian, turning to Sheppard.

"Something special?"

"Yes, both of you…"

"I don't understand."

So Ernest Matthews unbuttoned the top of his shirt and freed a thin leather thong tied up around his neck. A strange pendant was attached to it, a metallic looking disc of which one face was covered with inscriptions.  
The three Atlanteans froze. It was Ancient's.

"Where did you find this?" Rodney exclaimed.

Ernest gave it to him.

"I got it from my father who got it from his father... We've passed on this medallion for generations."

Giving the knowing look the three men casted to one another, Ernest knew then that this was certainly not the first time they saw this kind of object.

"You know these symbols, don't you?"

Nobody answered. Should we trust the old man? How can we talk about the origin of an Ancient's artifact without saying too much? What does Ernest exactly knew? Rodney began to examine the medallion in every corner. Damn! He would have given anything to have his computer right now! Or even better yet: Daniel Jackson!

"If I believe what was transmitted throughout the generations, this object is in my family since forever. They say he belonged to the Thunderbird himself. My father told me this amulet had magical powers and that only certain people had the privilege of knowing how to use it. He was one of them... Apparently, Amelia and you too, Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard..."

Then Ernest took the medallion from Rodney's hands and gave it to John. As the latter touched the silver circle, the inscriptions lit up and diffused a soft blue light. The object was hot, throbbing like a heart... The face of the old Indian lightened.

"I knew it, you've got the power too…" Ernest stammered.

"The ATA gene… So Amelia has it too…" Rodney muttered.

Sheppard put down the object which immediately turned off.

"Ernest, you must tell us everything on this medallion."

"I told you everything! My father gave it to me! He also had the power, like you. But it does not work with me, nor with any of my children and this is the first time it shines so much since my father had it in his possession!"

"Ernest! Do you know what its purpose is?" Asked John

"It's a key."

"A key to what?"

"The house of the thunderbird, the secret cave…"

"On the Black Tusk Mount?"

The old Indian nodded.

"My father went there once. I was about ten years old. He told me he had been guided by the will of the creatures of thunder... He found the cave, and he came inside, he found a treasure…"

"What kind of treasure?" Ronon asked.

"He never told me. But when he returned, something had changed. He was more serene... And then my father was not alone that day. His brother was with him. Zack's grandfather."

"He also had the ge…, I mean, the power?"

"No Meredith, only my father had it but they were inseparable."

"So, Zack knows about the artifact and the cave?"

"Worse... What I've not said yet is that in this cave, my father and my uncle found a second medallion which now belongs to Zack."

Sheppard ran his hand in his hair, sighing. Ronon and McKay exchanged worried glances. The old Indian went on:

"When I shook your hand in the chalet, when Amelia touched my rifle in the hut, and when Zack took her hand in the afternoon, the medallions turned on… Zack and I felt their heat… Zack doesn't have the power either but he inherited the necklace from his grandfather... He knows the story of the cave. He is harassing me for years to find this place, to recover the treasure. Without the ability to activate the medallion, he was unable to do so... But now, with Amelia, he will find the sanctuary and discover the secret home of the thunderbird. He is greedy, he needs money... I'm sure him and his friends think they can take over the treasure..."

"Ancients had nothing valuable..." Rodney murmured more to himself. "At least, no gold, just their technology..."

"Ancients? So you know more than you want to admit!"

"Listen Ernest, actually, these symbols are not unknown for us but we cannot tell you more about that, do you understand? It's kind of... Top secret... Now, what counts is to find Teyla, Jennifer and Amelia unharmed. Do you think Zack can be dangerous?"

"He is a scam, a thief but I do not think he could hurt them unless…"

"Unless what?" Rodney exclaimed suddenly panicked.

"Unless Bill and Gavin are with him. The two guys who were waiting this afternoon near the black 4x4. They are brutes, capable of everything... Oh my god! I'm terribly sorry!"

The old Indian took his head in his hands. McKay began to have palpitations. Sheppard and Ronon stared anxiously.

"I wonder why Jennifer and Teyla? Why not just Amelia?"

It was a good question. Jeannie then appeared on the threshold. She was less pale andsat with them. Torren was in her arms. Lily and Katy joined them too.

"You have to call the police!" the old woman exclaimed.

"No" Sheppard said as calmly as possible. "Ms. Campbell, please, wait before alerting the authorities, at least give us the time to clarify the situation. Let us discover if your nephew is really involved..."

"Zack? My god! Ernest!"

"Lily, they are right."

"What do we do now?" Jeannie asked a bit bewildered.

"We return to the chalet…" declared Sheppard "…we change clothes and contact Atlan ... Humm, the base... I think, on this one, we will need help."

_**TBC…**_

* Lyrics from «The power of love » (Mende/Rush/Applegate)


	15. Chapter 15: In the heart of the mountain

_**Thanks to the reviewers and the readers.**_**

* * *

**

**Chap ****15: In ****the heart of the mountain.**

* * *

"I don't understand Rodney! You have the gene too! How is it the medallion doesn't work for you?"

"It's quite simple actually. In your body, the gene is naturally present in the genetic heritage of all of your cells without exception. Same thing for Amelia. But for those of us who had to undergo Carson's gene therapy on Atlantis, the gene is only expressed transiently. It only remains in our cells near the injection point for some time but doesn't integrate our original genome permanently. After a while, we have to reinject the gene."

"And this new injection was…?"

"Was expected before coming here, but knowing that we had to leave Atlantis for a moment I thought I could postpone it. I temporarily lost the gene."

John, Ronon, Rodney, along with Jeannie and Torren, were on the road back to May's. They were able to convince Ernest and Lily to let them handle the situation and not to contact the police. The old Indian was still confused but nevertheless gave them permission to keep the medallion. Sheppard had promised he could get it back later. The leaders of the Stargate program also needed to allow the mission; for if John wanted help from Atlantis, he obviously had to inform Woolsey they discovered Ancient's artifacts on Canadian soil!

"He touched Amelia yesterday! He knew she could help him get to the cave", Ronon growled.

"Do you think he took them there? On Mount Black Tusk?" Asked Jeannie, Torren shaking in her arms.

"If they ain't there yet, it's only a matter of time before they go! Plus, Zack knows his uncle will eventually tell us the truth. So I'm pretty sure they won't hang around."

"But why taking Jennifer and Teyla if they only needed Amelia?" The Satedan questioned.

"I don't know", John replied, "maybe the girls woke up, identified the guys who then felt forced to take them away too. Who knows, Jennifer's gene may still be active? Or perhaps they thought that with hostages we wouldn't take the risk to follow them..."

Everyone had his heart in one's boots: Rodney would not stop wiggling his fingers in every direction, a clear sign of deep anxiety. Ronon was stamping anxiously. And no matter how hard John clenched his teeth, he couldn't hide he felt the same. Torren's tears only added to the yoke of fear that hung over their heads since the morning. Were the girls doing well? What were these guys going to do now? For it was clear Zack Matthews had not acted alone; forcing three prisoners to climb Mount Black Tusk wasn't an easy task. Did they even know that Jennifer was pregnant? Sheppard was sorry for Rodney who remained quiet and whose concern was visible.

The pickup stopped before the chalet. All were eager to come inside and change. Sheppard tried the phone. To his relief, the line had been restored. He contacted the command post recently set up in San Francisco, and (he) was linked with Atlantis. Since its return to earth, the City had been surrounded by drastic protective protocols concerning the incoming and outgoing communications. A few minutes of waiting, after having spoken to three different people, the voice of a surprised Richard Woolsey echoed at the other end of the wire.

"Lieutenant colonel Sheppard? Is that you?"

"Hi Mr Woolsey, humm, sorry to bother you so early ... I'm calling from Whistler. Sounds like we have a serious problem here …"

OooooooO

The helicopter was flying over the huge Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort. A tall man with black hair, whom looked sinister despite an impressive black eye, was aiming at three young women with his Beretta. All women had their wrists and ankles securely attached. Teyla's lip was bleeding. The man was staring at her threateningly. Zack Matthews was sitting on the right front seat while his sidekick, Gavin, was flying the aircraft.

Amelia cast an anxious look at Jennifer. The poor girl was frighteningly pale.

Soon on their left, appeared Cheakamus Lake and its deep- blue waters. From the pristine peaks and to the steep rock faces, Garibaldi Park was displaying all its splendor. The white landscape spread out as far as the eye could see.

Everything had happened very fast: the intruders they had detected too late in the bedroom; the pieces of clothes soaked with ether; the darkness and the painful stabbing headache when they woke up in a cold heliport. They had been ordered to be quiet, and threatened with a gun. Teyla had tried to resist and took it out on the guy named Bill. But not for long; they knew for Jennifer... Apparently, Zack heard of it at Lily's party. His gun leveled at the doctor's temple had quickly stopped the Athosian woman. Bill took the opportunity to return blow for blow.

"At least tell us where we're going!" Amelia yelled trying to cover the deafening noise of the helicopter.

"There!" Zack said before pointing to the snowy peak that stood in front of them now.

Black Tusk, the thunderbird's house, rose majestically in the blue morning sky.

OooooooO

"Damned! Sheppard! You're in Canada! We'll have to notify the relevant authorities! I must inform the I.O.A! Do you realize the mess? Do you think it's easy for me? The discovery of this artifact will force us to play it fine with all these people, and this secret place is precisely one of the most visited mountains of Garibaldi Park! If it is indeed an Ancient's landmark, the higher discretion is required!"

"Mr Woolsey! For now I do not care about the artifact or the I.O.A, what I want is to get Teyla, Jennifer and Amelia back in one piece!"

"Of course, it's obvious! But if I give permission to take off a jumper, they will know it, they will ask questions and I'd have to keep them informed of what's happening. They may want to take control of the operation and supplant you to protect at all cost the discovery that you've made. You know how much technology prevail over human life to them.

Suddenly, Rodney snatched the phone from John.

"Woolsey! Jennifer is pregnant! So I hope you have a good reason to lose time and I'm warning you that if anything happens to her, or to Teyla or Amelia, I would hold you personally responsible."

There was silence at the other end of the line. Rodney was still holding the phone, his fingers clenching and trembling with rage.

"Ok, give me your position, I'll do my best ..." Woolsey replied.

OoooooO

The helicopter landed on a tiny rocky platform the snow had miraculously spared. They wouldn't need to climb Mount Black Tusk: the cave was not far. Zack led the way while the young women followed in single file, wrists still tied up behind their back. Gavin and brought up the rear. Fortunately for the girls, Zack seemed to follow some sort of path. The snow hampered their progress. Jennifer nearly tripped several times but Dexter was watching her. Each time she stumbled, the giant man's powerful grip plowed her arm and forced her to move on. Amelia and Teyla were fulminating.  
After fifteen minutes, they stopped before a rocky wall. Its central part seemed strangely smooth in comparison to the asperities found on the walls around.

"My dear Amelia, would you please come here?" Zack said in a honeyed tone that gave the young woman the urge to spit in his face.

Amelia did so, glancing anxiously at her friends.

"No dirty trick or your friends will pay... And I'm sure you don't want something bad happens to our future mom!" He added, pointing his weapon towards Jennifer.

Bill and Gavin grinned. After detaching the technician's ties, the Indian thrust his hand into the pocket of his anorak and pulled out a strange medallion he gave to the young woman. As soon as she touched it, the blue light appeared. Amelia felt the heat. She stared at Zack who had begun to smile.

"Where did you get that?" Teyla dared to ask, as surprised as Jennifer.

"Shut up you!" Bill roared, shoving the Athosian.

"Stop it now!" Amelia screamed.

"I think you're not in a position to demand anything my dear!" Zack replied, before casting an angry look at his friend. "And you had better cooperate if you do not want my two friends to take it out on yours! As you can see, your fellow kung fu champion rather upset Bill!"

Then taking Amelia by the arm, he walked nearer to the wall.

« You are my master key!" He said with big smile.

He extricated a big stone from the smooth side of the wall and magically, a circular notch the size of the medallion appeared.

"Ladies first !" He said to the young woman before heading back his revolver in her direction.

Amelia approached the wall and put the medallion in the hole. It fitted perfectly.

"Leave your hand on it!" Zack ordered.

After a few seconds, the wall slowly swung in a rumble, clearing the entrance to the cave.

"Bloody hell! Zack, you were right!" Gavin exclaimed excitedly.

"Hurry up! Let's take the gold!" Bill added.

And they pushed their prisoners in the dark tunnel before them.

OooooooO

Rodney was frantically typing on his computer, carefully examining the artifact.

"So McKay?" Sheppard ventured.

"It's naquadah. The same type the Stargate is made of. That's Ancient. The entries are clear. "_This is my home's key. You, who need me, call and I will answer..."_ roughly that's the meaning of the inscription."

"Do you mean it's a kind of communicator?" Ronon asked.

"Yes it is. It would also be a key, probably to open the famous cave... But I don't know how it works"

"Give it to me" Sheppard ordered.

OooooooO

After several meters, the vault of the tunnel had been replaced by a metal ceiling similar to those of Atlantis. No doubt this place was built by the Ancients. Alterans symbols adorned some sections of the walls and as Amelia went along, the neon of the corridors lit one by one. Zack had recovered the medallion and held it tightly in his fist. His acolytes followed carefully, intrigued by the unusual architecture. Oddly, the more they advanced, the less it was cold.  
They arrived in a large circular room of which walls exceeded ten meters in height. The three men, their eyes wide as saucers, were impressed first by the gigantic place.

"It is incredible! Do you see that?" Zack exclaimed, flabbergasted.

They faced a closed door at the other end of the room. Gavin walked toward it. No handle. He tried to slide it. It was Impossible. He and Bill suddenly looked downcast.

"Where is the gold, Matthews!" shouted the first one.

"Wait a little Bill! What did you expect? That the treasure was to be handed on a plate ? Look at that!"

Zack was pointing to a console at the center of the room. Teyla and Jennifer were forced to sit against a wall while the Indian seized Amelia by the arm and led her around the module.

"Come on! Try to turn on this thing and open this damn door!" he ordered.

A thick dusty coat was covering the device, engraved with Ancients' symbols. What Zack Matthews did not know was that Amelia knew perfectly this kind of machine. Atlantis possessed similar ones in the control room. On what looked like a keyboard the young woman saw the same container as the one present on the entrance wall.

"I think I still need the medallion..." She said glancing at Teyla and Jennifer.

Zack gave it to her. Once she had it in her hand, Amelia hesitated for a second. Without knowing why, she slid her fingers on the series of symbols covering the artifact. The heat seemed to increase. Then, suddenly, a dazzling flash of light came that blinded her even though she had her eyes shut.

OoooooooooO

"Sheppard! Sheppard! What's happening to you?" Rodney shouted, shaking the military.

Ronon had also rushed to the lieutenant colonel that had abruptly closed his eyes and remained motionless and silent as a statue in the middle of the room. It was like a trance.  
The light from the medallion was now almost blinding.

"My God Rodney what's happening!" Jeannie exclaimed as she appeared suddenly in the room.

"I don't know!"

Ronon was about to take the artifact in an attempt to free his friend from his catatonia, but Rodney stopped him.

"Wait! I think I understand! The communicator is activated!"

After a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity, the sparkle of the medallion decreased and Sheppard seemed to regain consciousness. Ronon barely had the time to come and support him as he began to waver.

"Whoa! I feel strange all at once!"

"John! You OK?"

"Yes... Rodney, a little shaken, but OK."

The artifact was still in his hand.

"What happened?" Ronon Asked.

The soldier glanced at the Satedan, Rodney and Jeannie before slowly staring into space

"I know exactly where they are", he whispered.

_**TBC…**_


	16. Chapter 16: Prisoners

_**Thanks for the reviews. only 3 chapters and it's the end...**_

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Chap **__**16: Prisoners…**_

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"Damn! What was that?" Gavin shouted, increasingly nervous.

Amelia gasped, kneeling at the foot of the console, still firmly holding the medallion in her left hand. Zack seemed a bit overwhelmed by the events. The place his father had so often described as a haven of peace, a temple of fullness, began to seriously make him feel uncomfortable.

"Come on! Get up!" he exclaimed, pointing his gun at the head of the young woman. "What happened to you? Stop it right away and do what I asked you!"

The tension was rising between the three kidnappers. Bill was pacing up and down fast in front of Teyla and Jennifer. The two women had suddenly stood up when Amelia had slumped on the floor without warning.

"Zack! What the hell is going on! We ain't gonna stay here forever! We're leaving as soon as she's found the loot! And you better not cross us…"

"Are you finished already? Calm down, OK?" The Indian replied a bit irritated and beginning to sweat.

"I'm fed up with this! I'll force her to do it", Bill yelled putting the barrel of his gun on Teyla's head.

The Athosian did not move.

"Please, no!" Jennifer implored.

Amelia looked up. She seemed confused but rising painfully, she managed to articulate.

"Stop it, it's OK! I will activate the control panel..."

_"Saving time is the only thing to do ... __They will come ..."_

She did not know how, but the artifact had somehow enabled her to connect with Lt. Colonel Sheppard... It was so weird... She felt as if she could see through his eyes ... Ronon's anxious face, Rodney and Jeannie, the cottage... It was like a memory, but she knew everything was taking place simultaneously, a dozen miles away. A sort of telepathic link... With a bit of luck, Sheppard was experiencing the same thing. Then she thought about the helicopter ride and all the details she had observed during their journey to the slope of the mountain; their landing site, the entrance of the cave and the opening mechanism, and the three gunmen aiming their guns at them...  
But soon enough, the threatening tone of Zack brought her back to the center of the room.

"Hurry!" He ordered.

Amelia slowly put the medallion on the panel. When it was in place, the top of the console swung open and a column of light rose to the top of the room. Everyone stepped back, looking at the golden beam. Then, the silhouette of a young woman appeared. A hologram. She was young and her long black hair spread over her shoulders her smile was kind, her hands folded on her stomach, and she wore a spotless white tunic. Suddenly, her soft voice rose, amplified by the special acoustic of the place:

"_Welcome to you who has been able to reach me. I am Alyria Melior, messenger of the Dylonian people. I am their link with the world. Ask your questions and I will try to answer...__"_

"What's the hell?" Gavin muttered, staring at Zack.

"It's a hologram, you idiot! It's like a movie in three dimensions, but without a screen!"

"I'm sick of this! You three know more than you want to say! Where is that damn treasure?"

Bill shouted suddenly, grabbing Teyla's arm.

"I do not know! Ask her!" The Athosian replied, pointing at the ghostly silhouette.

Zack seemed more and more confused. He had placed his gun against his forehead and was apparently trying to think, visibly irritated by his sidekick's eagerness.

"What is this place and who are the Dylonians?" He finally asked aloud.

Then he jumped when the luminescent spectrum answered:

"_The Dylonians are some protectors. They are part of the First Ones. __This sanctuary is a place of discovery and learning designed for those wishing to take advantage of their knowledge. It is a place for meditation and communion with the spirit of the Ancestors. __There are thousands of years, a huge disagreement about human beings destinies came to divide the First Ones and led to the great schism of the past. Two clans were formed. __The first, comprising the majority of the Ancestors, believed that the higher beings should not share the secret of the Ascension with inferior races. The second, consisting of a small number of partisans, who named themselves the Dylonians, wished to continue to interact with these people to help in their development and to maintain peace in the galaxy._

"Shit! She answered!" Bill stammered. "How is that possible? And she spoke of thousands of years. Am I dreaming or what?"

"What happened to the Dylonians? Are they still here...?" Zack continued eagerly.

"_The conflict between the two clans was such that many Dylonians were persecuted and forced to rejoin this plan of existence. From their state of pure energy, they were forced to become human once again. __Some resisted, hunted down, hidden in the depths of the universe, they remained in contact with their brothers rematerialized. __They built sanctuaries like this one across the galaxy to allow the exiled ones to keep in touch safely with those who had escaped punishment. __This site is protected by a shield that makes it invisible to the vision of those who chased us. Then later, when the Humans had reached a higher level of development, we have contacted them in this place. It permitted us to deliver our education for deserving and pure people desiring to know the fullness of the Ascension."_

Zack continued, now completely fascinated and indifferent to the signs revealing that Bill and Gavin were losing their cool.

"Rematerialized…? I don't understand…"

"_Ascension is a transmutation, the loss of a body of flesh and blood to exist only as pure energy, and as I said, therefore, this allows the assumption of a higher plan of existence. This is the beginning of the journey to universal knowledge__…"_

"What about you? What are you?"

"_I was a Dylonian forced to live a mortal existence amongst the inhabitants of this planet. My free companions used my image to create this interface and be able to communicate with the humans of Earth…" _

Suddenly the Indian lowered his eyes and noticed something: all around the console, a perfect circle was drawn in the ground. When he looked the hologram again, it seemed that the appearance had lost in intensity.

"It's sheer madness…" Gavin whispered. "It's candid camera or something! Zack! What's the fuck!"

In a theatrical gesture, the hologram opened her arms. The fabric her sleeves were made of spread like giant white wings. A golden halo appeared that radiated her entire body and propagated light towards the amazed visitors. Only Gavin seemed impervious to this fantastic vision.

"Damn, Zack! Stop playing at questions game!" He snapped suddenly.

The Indian had scarcely heard him, completely mesmerized by the hologram in front of him.

"The cave... The Circle... Her voice sounds like a song... She says "she" was a Superior Being, that she served them..." Zack mumbled. "I... I think she is the Thunderbird..."

OoooooO

"A hologram like the one on Atlantis" Sheppard threw, his eyes turned to the ground.

"Perfect!" Rodney retorted. "Are the girls OK?"

"Yes, but they've been tied up. The hologram is telling parts of the Ancients' history, but without really going into details, which is rather good news. Besides, I doubt that these guys really understand what it is about…"

"Eh! Looks like there's something moving outside!" Ronon said.

John, who was still holding the artifact, tried to focus now on what was happening around him. They all went out on the porch, when suddenly, the impressive cabin of a jumper appeared in front of the cottage as if by magic. Major Evan Lorne was piloting and hastened to lower the rear door of the aircraft.

"Major!" Sheppard exclaimed. "Glad to see you!"

"Apparently you are in trouble?"

"Yeah. Woolsey told you?"

"Going to save ladies in distress and recovering Ancients' artifacts, right?"

Suddenly, the control panel of the jumper signaled a call on hold.

/Major Lorne? Can you hear me?/ asked the voice of the leader of Atlantis.

"Yes, sir. Colonel Sheppard is here with me."

/Good! Colonel Sheppard, I hope you will conduct this unofficial operation the most discreetly possible. Get Teyla, Keller and Banks back and neutralize these men. We'll take on them later. I managed to take away the I.O.A for now... /

"Thank you sir. We'll check up in a few hours. "

/And Sheppard… Be careful… /

The communication was interrupted.

"We need weapons" Ronon said.

"Help yourself" Lorne answered.

Ronon reached into the storage compartment under the back seat and pulled out his blaster.

"Thanks Buddy!" he enthused, twirling his gun around his finger

"I thought you would need it... I had to go look for it in your bedroom…"

"Good initiative" The Satedan replied.

Jeannie was waiting on the porch, Torren in her arms. Rodney came to kiss her forehead.

"We'll bring them back, don't worry."

The young women smiled at him shyly, while the little boy looked at Rodney with intensity… Then the scientist joined the group on board the jumper. Sheppard took place next to the major. Ronon and McKay sat down in the back. At that moment, the jumper slowly took off and disappeared in the sky, leaving a swirling cloud of dust as sole evidence of its ephemeral presence.

OoooooO

A slight smile stretched Amelia lips but Jennifer and Teyla didn't catch its meaning.  
The guys had a jumper and were only a few minutes away. If only she could prevent her friends... She was aware the patience of the two thugs who threatened them had reached its limits. And she could see that Teyla was quietly twisting her arms behind her back, having found a way to loosen her bonds. Perfect. Soon, the two of them will have their hands free… Suddenly, Bill crossed the room and pushed Zack unceremoniously.

"Enough! Tell that thing to open the door! And there better be something valuable enough behind it!"

"Damn Bill! You don't get it, do you? It's even better than I had imagined!"

"Oh yeah? What I get is that my finger itches. Don't forget we kidnapped those girls and because of that idiot uncle of yours their friends might turn up at any moment. So the sooner we find the loot the sooner we settle their hash!"

"What do you want from us?" Jennifer tried, her voice trembling.

"Don't worry baby" Gavin grinned "I have special plans for you"

OoooooO

The occulted jumper was flying over the mountains at full speed. Sheppard's face was impenetrable.

"Hurry up Lorne..."

"What is it John?" Rodney asked.

Sheppard evaded the question.

"Let's check our weapons." He replied without looking at the scientist.

OoooooO

"Look, the hologram's turning off!" Gavin exclaimed.

The Alyria Melior's hologram faded more and more.

"Shit! Why is it shutting down?" Zack asked Amelia.

"I don't know. I suppose that the energy source that powers the device is running out quickly. "

Suddenly, the hologram's smiling face disappeared completely.

"Find out what's wrong!" the Indian shouted.

On the top of the panel, Amelia spotted the command opening the console. A hatch popped up on the left side and let appear the inside of the machine.

"There's something weird in there!" Bill threw, urging the others to come and see.

Meanwhile, Teyla had managed to free her hands completely. With a nod, she warned Amelia who nodded back. Jennifer was still tied up and made a gesture in Amelia's direction was too risky.

"You think it's the treasure?" Bill said, pointing at a strange cylinder inside the console, but without really having the courage to touch it.

The girls' eyes widened.

"What's this?" Gavin asked Zack.

Of course the young women knew. It was a ZPM.

OoooooO

"They found a ZPM."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yes McKay, I'm sure, and stop asking questions, you're confusing me! You think it's easy for me to have to summarize everything I see when you're interrupting all the time?"

"OK, OK! Sorry, go on!"

"Thank you! Well, apparently the ZPM is almost empty. The hologram just disappeared" Sheppard said concentrating hard.

"Hey, Look!" Ronon exclaimed.

The jumper was floating above the platform where the helicopter was parked.

"There! It seems there's a path going up" Lorne added.

"Follow it, it's there!" Sheppard said.

Within seconds, the aircraft was hovering before the cliff.

"A secret entrance?" Ronon questioned.

"Yes, in this part of the cliff" Sheppard replied. "McKay, you said the jumper could beam us, right?"

"Indeed, it is the prototype I worked on. I thought it might be useful rather than always calling one of our spaceships."

"Well, it's time to test it!"

"OK, I program the jumper's carrier to detect their tags. They won't get over it when the girls will disappear right under their noses!"

Suddenly Rodney's face darkened.

"Oh no…, no no no no!"

"What?" Ronon asked.

"I don't detect anything!"

"But I'm sure they're inside!" Sheppard exclaimed.

"They may be there, but I can't locate their tags and without them, no beaming up."

"You're sure your stuff works?" Ronon threw.

"MY _STUFF_ WORKS PERFECTLY!" Rodney bellowed. "It's just that something's blocking the signal! It seems this cave is surrounded by some sort of forcefield that prevents any communication or use of the scanners. "

"The jumper doesn't detect anything either" Lorne said to support McKay's statements.

"You can't beam us down either? Sheppard grumbled. "So much for the surprise…"

"We'll have to use the door" Rodney sighed.

"Let's go", Ronon concluded, ready to rush out of the jumper.

"Major, drop us at the entrance" Sheppard ordered. "We stay in radio contact. Once inside, we get the girls and go back."

"Yes, sir"

"Ronon…"

"Yeah Sheppard?"

"Control yourself. They aren't Wraiths. Ok, they are detestable human beings but we're on Earth here and we have laws. These men must be brought to justice. »

Ronon looked at him angrily before setting his eyes on the door again, his blaster in hand.  
Sheppard was still holding the artifact. Thanks to it, their advantage was certain as long as he and Amelia would remain in contact.

OooooO

"What's that?" Zack asked Amelia.

"It's... some sort of large battery. I think that's what fueled the hologram until now."

"It's worth nothing!" Gavin shouted before closing the trap violently.

Amelia stealthily walked away from the console, getting the medallion in passing. Gavin noticed her and grabbed her arm.

"You, come with me!" He said, taking the girl along to the closed door at the back of the room. "Open it!"

Amelia found the control panel on the right side of the door, the same that on Atlantis. She moved her hand before the panel and the door swooshed opened. A cold draft blew into the room.

"Shit! It's just another exit!"

Suddenly, Gavin leveled his gun at Zack, his features distorted by the rage.

"Son of a bitch"! What the hell did you take us for? There's no treasure here !"

The Indian mimicked him instantly and aimed at Gavin.

"Stop it now, Gavin!"

"Go on! Shout me!"

"You think I won't do it?"

"You're nothing but a coward Zack!" Gavin spat contemptuously.

Mad, the Indian pulled the trigger. But all they heard was a click. Gavin burst out laughing at the stunned and panicked face of the man in front of him.

"I knew we couldn't trust you. I unloaded your weapon earlier in the shed... Bye bye Zack!"

Gavin shot in his turn. The Indian collapsed on his back, a bullet in the forehead. Bill's only reaction was to snort loudly as he witnessed the scene. He did not lift his finger to help Zack. Some friends…

Jennifer stared at the Indian's lifeless body with panicked eyes. Teyla, her features contorted, managed to lock Amelia's gaze. If they did not act now, soon they would suffer the same fate as Zack. With a slight nod, they understood each other.

Then everything happened very quickly.

OooooO

"There is ruction, we better hurry…" Sheppard threw, inserting the medallion in the slot on the cave entrance.

The rock wall that hid the entrance to the cave opened up without problem. Sheppard leading the way, the trio cautiously went down the corridor. Rodney brought up the rear. He firmly held his P-90; he was afraid, but not for himself. He was afraid for Jennifer. More than ever before.

OoooooO

Teyla sent a powerful kick in Bill's ribs, and he dropped his weapon under the impact. Amelia rushed right into Gavin and got him in an armlock which made him drop his revolver. Jennifer, still tied up, witnessed the scene, quite helpless.  
Bill, who had just got his breath back, was hammered by the Athosian's punches… But the colossus was stronger than she thought: he parried a few keystrokes and even managed to repel her.  
Gavin also freed himself and, bewildered, scanned the ground to find where his weapon was had dropped. Amelia took advantage of that and struck him a spinning back-kick on the head. Under impact, a splash of blood escaped his mouth, but he nevertheless remained standing on his legs. He seemed as unwavering as his acolyte. He came around so quickly that, in a split second, the technician found herself seized by the throat by two hands clasping her like a vice.  
Teyla realized her friend was in trouble. Bill's gun had landed under the console. As The Athosian rushed to rescue Amelia, a strong hand grabbed her ankle; Bill had not said its last word.  
Amelia was suffocating.

"Bitch!" Gavin shouted, trying to crush her neck.

But suddenly, Gavin was hit by something and fell to the ground. Amelia, trying to catch her breath, saw Jennifer, standing atop of him with a big stone in her tied hands.  
At the other end of the room, it seemed Teyla had overcome Bill. She rose, wiping the blood flowing from the arch of her eyebrow. Amelia got up too and began to untie Jennifer.

"It's OK Jen, he is done for." Amelia said, bringing the doctor away from the man lying on the floor, obviously knocked out.

Jennifer rubbed her wrists and took a deep breath. She turned her eyes on the Ancient's medallion that Amelia had not dropped a second during the fight. The two women exchanged a nervous smile. Then, like in slow motion, the doctor turned her head sideways.  
Against all odds, Gavin was standing again, his gun in his hand, pointing in their direction. Jennifer opened her mouth to scream. Teyla, at the other end of the room, threw herself under the console to take Bill's revolver. Gavin's finger pulled the trigger and the shot went off with a blinding flash.

OooooO

Turning a corner, a dozen yards away was the entrance of the room. The blast had echoed through the corridor. Instinctively, Rodney and Ronon suddenly crouched down against the wall, ready to shoot in the direction of the sound.  
But Sheppard had not moved and remained standing in the middle of the corridor, as if frozen. Then, without understanding what was happening, the two men saw him suddenly raised his hand to his chest, staring at the medallion with disbelief.

"Sheppard!" Ronon called in a hushed voice.

The military, still motionless, turned a distraught face toward the Satedan.

"Banks…" he breathed.

**_TBC…_**


	17. Chapter 17: Sacrifice

_**Hifield, Rory, Jen-NCIS-lover (don't forget me please...) and Melraemorgan, and the others, here the next chapter ! Please, maybe the 100 reviews ? I can ever dream...**_

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CHAP 17**__**: Sacrifice**_

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They heard another shot and then an alarm began to ring. Sheppard had regained consciousness and tried to follow Ronon who started running towards the room.  
When they reached the hall, they saw Amelia, lying on the ground. Jennifer was over her trying to stop the blood flowing from the young woman's chest. Teyla was aiming at a man also lying on the ground. She had apparently shot him. Bill and Zack were on the ground further away.

The Athosian lowered her weapon and sighed with relief when she saw John. After a quick glance around, Ronon froze when he saw Amelia covered with blood. Rodney came in last. Time seemed to suspend its course. They all approached Jennifer, whose hands and face were also covered with Amelia's blood. The eyes of the technician were wide open and her breathing seemed more and more difficult.

"Amy, don't give up, please!" Jennifer screamed while pressing on the woman's chest with all the strength she had.

The men were petrified, Ronon more than the others. The alarm rang again and the ground began trembling.

"We must get her out of here!" Jennifer exclaimed.

"This alarm is similar to the one on Atlantis" Rodney suddenly managed to articulate, "It's a self-destruction alarm!"

At this precise moment, they heard Major Lorne's crackling voice on Sheppard's radio.

/Communications are restored and the scanner works too! It looks like the force field disappeared…/

"The energy of the ZPM was redirected towards self-destruction" McKay explained.

"Lorne! Teleport us now!" Sheppard ordered.

/Yes, sir!/

A few seconds later, they were all safe in the jumper, Jennifer still busily trying to contain the bleeding. Ronon crouched and seized the hand of Amelia.

"Amelia! Come on!" The doctor gasped.

"Ronon…" Amelia muttered with a sigh.

The Satedan laid a hand on her forehead.

"Amy, I'm with you…"

Amelia's face became livid. A puddle of blood was slowly spreading under her body. There was no time to lose, no matter if they were still in shock. But suddenly, in front of them, the entrance of the cave collapsed in a cloud of dust. No one dared talking about the last kidnapper that remained inside. But anyway the scanner displayed no life sign anymore in the cave.  
Amelia gently closed her eyes.

"Ronon! Talk to her!" Jennifer ordered.

He took Amelia's face in his hands, forcing her to watch him.

"Amy! Stay with me!" he begged.

"Dr. Keller..." John started, as if calling the young woman by her function would give her the power to make miracles.

Jennifer looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. Then she turned to Rodney, who had remained silent since they got out of the cave. On his face, despite the critical situation, she could read some kind of guilty relief that it was not her lying there, instead of Amelia. She couldn't blame him for that.

"We must go back to Atlantis" She declared, a bit out of spite.

What was she thinking? That on Atlantis they could do more for her than on any other hospital in the area? There was too much blood in Amelia's lungs and not enough anymore in the rest of her body...

"Hold tight, Banks, OK? We'll take care of you and everything will be alright..." Sheppard tried to convince her, doing his best to control his shaking voice.

But as Amelia coughed, a thread of scarlet ran down her mouth. Ronon raised his head to his military friend, profound distress filling his eyes.

"Lorne, get us to Atlantis as fast as you can! Inform Woolsey we're coming home and that we need a medical team in the jumper bay!" John ordered suddenly feeling Teyla's hand in his own.

It took them only a few minutes to get to the City. Ronon would not let go of Amelia's hand, which felt colder and colder.

"Amy, can you hear me?"

"Ronon… I need… to tell you…" She managed to pronounce with a sad smile.

"We'll get to Atlantis in no time. I'm not leaving you" He said, caressing her hair.

The young woman raised her arm with difficulty and put her hand on Ronon's cheek. Jennifer started to cry quietly while Sheppard snaked his arm around Teyla's waist, and Rodney, next to Lorne, put his head in his hands. It was a nightmare.

"I have to tell you som…" Amelia started.

"Amy, Atlantis is not far anymore, you're not gonna to die… OK…. Not this time! I won't allow it!"

"Ronon… Come closer…"

The Satedan leaned over her, looking deeply into her eyes. She was surprisingly calm and at peace.

"I love you, Ronon Dex…" She muttered before closing her eyes.

OooooO

The rear door of the jumper sloped down. Richard Woolsey was waiting for them in the bay alongside with four doctors and nurses carrying a shaft ready to receive Amelia and lead her in the surgery room. Teyla and John came out first, lowering their heads.

"Sheppard? What happ-"

Atlantis's commander didn't need to finish his sentence: on seeing his 2IC and Teyla's faces, he understood.

"God, no…" He sighed now totally bewildered.

Then it was Rodney's turn to come out, helping Jennifer on the way as she could not walk properly. When they both arrived in front of Woolsey, the young woman took a deep breath before saying gravely:

"Amelia's been shot. She died two minutes ago."

"How...how did it happen?"

"When we were in the cave she… she intervened to prevent one of our kidnappers from shooting me. But the guy… The guy had already pulled the trigger... She saved my live…When Major Lorne beamed us in the Jumper, she had already lost too much blood. There was nothing I could do. Her heart just stopped beating…" She paused for a few seconds, taking the time to calm down. "We need to carry her body to the infirmary."

Woolsey looked staggered. He ran his fingers through his face, trying to erase the shock of the news.

"Dr Keller... We'll take care of this… Is Ronon…?"

"Mr. Woolsey!" a nasal voice exclaimed behind him. "What's happening here?"

Three men in suits were approaching them with an air of determination. The smallest, a weasel-faced man, stopped in front of Woolsey and pointed a finger at him.

"Did _you_ authorize this mission? Did you send a jumper out and off American soil? Well, I'm sure the I.O.A will be delighted to hear that! Let me tell you, Woolsey, you are in trouble! Big trouble!"

"Please, Mr. Colton, Listen t…"

"No, _you_ will listen to _me_! I'm going to do a scathing report on you and your team! I presume you are Sheppard!" he roared to the military. "Woolsey, say goodbye to the command of this base and for you Sheppard, it is court martial, no less!"

Suddenly, as the bureaucrat was still preaching Woolsey violently, Ronon came out from the jumper with the lifeless body of Amelia in his arms. With an impenetrable look on his face, he held his blaster in his hand, and rushed straight into the representative of the I.O.A who, unfortunately for him, was in the passage. Without a glance the Satedan pushed him with his shoulder which resulted with the poor man falling over on his butt at Woolsey's feet, and with his white shirt stained with Amelia's blood. Before anyone had time to react, Ronon had vanished into the nearest transporter.

"Fer Crying out loud! Who is that? And this woman, is she...? WOOLSEY!" Colton yelled, gesturing to his two flunkeys to come help him stand.

But the commander of Atlantis was not listening.

"Where is he taking her?" He asked Sheppard.

"I dunno ... But we should follow him, this is not the right time to leave him alone."

It was Teyla, Jennifer, John and Rodney's turn to rush out of the Jumper bay. Woolsey ordered the medical team to go back to the infirmary and then asked Major Lorne to help Sheppard.

Once on his feet again, Colton dusted off his suit and shouted.

"WOOLSEY! Will you at last tell me what's happening?"

"Oh, you shut up! And let me handle this!" the commander exclaimed before turning on his heels, leaving the crimson-face Colton seethe with rage.

OooooO

"Control room! This is Colonel Sheppard!"

/Go ahead, Colonel/

"Chuck, can you find Ronon's biometric signature in your screen?"

/Doing it, sir... I found him, he is heading to section 7, 3rd level, sir./

Climbing in the transporter, the four friends shared a meaningful glance…

OoooooO

The game was not so bad after all. They called it Chess. Two sides: the whites and the blacks. Some rules of combat and a lot of strategy. At least, it was better than the DVDs Sheppard brought "to inculcate him some moral and family values dear to the people of Earth". But in the end he had only taken a look out of curiosity since it was called _Little House on the Prairie_. Huh! Sheppard and his sense of humor ...

Suddenly there was an unusual bustle outside. Loud voices, sounds of struggle and finally, the doors of the cell opened. Ronon Dex stood before him, holding a woman apparently in bad shape in his arms. He closed the doors securely and then shot the control panel with his blaster. It seemed he wanted a face to face ...

The Satedan resolutely crossed the distance to the bars of the cell. With one hand, he sent the Chess board waltz trough the room and with the other, he placed the woman on a nearby table before aiming the wraith with his gun, glaring at him with a mad look.

It has been a long time since the creature had seen such a fury in a human's eyes.

"Bring her back to life!" Ronon yelled, tightening his grip on his blaster.

Todd smiled and slowly rose from his chair.

OooooO

After a rush through countless corridors, Sheppard finally arrived at the Wraith's cell. Two guardians were lying on the ground slowly regaining consciousness.

"Wilkins, Durgan, are you OK?" Sheppard asked helping them up.

Teyla, Jennifer and Rodney arrived in their turn.

"Yes, Colonel... um... it was Ronon Dex... he tumbled like a maniac and asked us to let him in. But when we told him it was out of the question and that we only took orders from you, he shot us with his gun..."

"He stunned them..." Teyla stated, trying to mitigate the seriousness of Ronon's behavior.

"Yeah" John replied, "Sorry guys, Ronon is not himself today. I'll take care of this. Go to the infirmary."

The soldiers, still groggy from the stun, left the room grumbling, while Lorne and Woolsey made their entrance. The latter, a little breathless, asked:

"Sheppard! Where is Ronon?"

"He's in there with Todd and Amelia" John explained, attempting to open the door several times without success.

"Why?" Woolsey questioned.

"Rodney!" The military asked the scientist to join him. "Open the damn door!"

But Teyla interrupted her friends.

"I believe Ronon wants Todd to grant Amelia with the gift of life."

"What? You mean…"

This time Jennifer spoke

"When Ronon was on the Hive ship, some Wraith stabbed him and left him to die, but the Wraith who commanded the ship used what he called "the gift of life" to revive him for questioning."

"Now would be a good time, McKay!" Sheppard exclaimed, bustling restlessly around the scientist.

"Hey! You think it's that simple! He must have screwed up the control box from inside the room! I'm trying to short-circuit the control from here! Just wait a minute!"

"Ronon!" Sheppard yelled through the door "We're about to open the door, alright?"

No response.

Sheppard grabbed his gun but kept it along his thigh. Lorne did the same. Teyla put her hand on John's arm and looked at him imploringly.

"It's only a precaution... I won't harm him. Everyone stays behind" He ordered.

Finally the door opened. Sheppard fell face to face with Todd, who was out of his cell. Ronon, perfectly motionless, his blaster kept trained on the Wraith. Amelia was lying between the two.

"Sheppard!" Todd said calmly. "We were waiting for you!"

"Enough talking, do it!" Ronon ordered.

After dropping his weapon on the floor, Sheppard slowly entered the cell.

"Is Everything O.K, Ronon?"

"Everything is fine" the Satedan retorted, his face contorted with anger. "He's gonna give her life back or I'll take his away..."

"Listen Ronon, calm down first and then we'll see what Todd can do... I am far from being a super fan, you know that, but we should stay cautious…"

Then, addressing the Wraith:

"Can you do what he asked you?"

Todd sighed and looked at the lifeless body of Amelia.

"When did she die?" He asked.

"Approximately ten minutes ago..." Jennifer replied. She couldn't have helped herself getting into the room, and was quickly followed by Teyla and Rodney.

The Wraith grunted, signaling its displeasure. Ronon walked around the table and approached him. The blaster was now a few inches from Todd's head.

"It's too late for her…" Todd said.

With his free hand the Satedan suddenly grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against the wall.

"We'll decide if it's too late!" He roared.

"Ronon!" Teyla exclaimed seeing her friend losing his self-control.

Todd looked at the ex-runner right in the eye.

"I have not fed on humans for months. I am too weak. If I try to bring the female back, the loss of vital energy will kill _me_. Besides, I am not even sure she can be revived. So you better shoot and kill me right away... it will save me from further unnecessary suffering…"

Ronon's gun tossed with slight tremor. But it was not from fear; it was the rage taking over. The Wraith was probably right though... And threatening him seemed to be useless. Believing that Amelia could live again was foolish now. So Ronon did the only thing reasonable; as resignation showed on his face, he dropped his weapon, and withdrew his hand from Todd's neck. He then turned his head toward Amelia's wan face. She seemed peacefully asleep. The only thing proving her death was the growing red spot staining her chest.

"Ronon, please…" Teyla started, approaching him.

As she was about to take his arm, the Satedan turned around and, again, stood before the Wraith. He took off his jumper and T-shirt before resolutely looking at Todd right in the eyes. Without warning, he seized the Wraith's hand, and slapped it over his bare chest, right above his heart.

"If you need strength to bring her back to life then feed on me…"

John, more surprised by Ronon's attitude than anyone else, had jumped to retrieve the Satedan's weapon and was now aiming at Todd.

"Not that I would mind, but I do not think your friends will leave me do it…" The Wraith chuckled.

"Ronon! Have you lost your mind?" Rodney said.

"Rodney is right, this is a very bad idea..." John added while approaching his friend imperceptibly.

Woolsey was a bit overwhelmed by the events. Still, he tried to give his point of view.

"As the commander of this base, I..."

But apparently, Ronon was not too keen to hear his opinion.

"Sheppard, I may be part of your team, but it doesn't mean I have to follow your orders. I'm not from earth, and this is my life..."

"Well, I don't think so!" Sheppard said. "At least, not while I'm in this room with you. Now, stand aside!"

"I do what I want Sheppard! And the more time we lose arguing, the more the chances of seeing Amelia alive again decrease!"

Ronon was now looking at John right in the eyes.

'Why could he not understand?' Thought Ronon. 'It was the only way... He could not let her die... Not _her_...'

Without a word, John shook his head once again. Loosing Ronon was out of the question; the resurrection was not assured to be a success and John would not let the wraith reduced his friend to the state of a nonagenarian in vain.

"Do it..." The Satedan whispered to the Wraith's ear, pressing harder on the strange hand resting on his chest.

Rodney was holding his breath. 'John would not leave him do it. It seemed obvious.' He thought, 'but what should the soldier do to stop all this? Shoot Todd? No, Ronon would never forgive him. Shoot Ronon, then?'

Although the Wraith was caught between two fires, he seemed strangely quiet, almost meditative. And then, everyone watched him as he slowly leant his head close to Ronon's face. A few seconds passed in the deathly hush of the cell. Then, Todd stepped back, still resting his hand on the Satedan's bare chest. He addressed him:

"You let me explore your mind in spite of your aversion to my species... You, the runner... I _saw _in you... I _felt_..."

"What did you see?" Rodney stammered while Ronon lowered his head slowly.

"The love he has for the female…" the Wraith answered.

Nobody dared say a word. Woolsey sought confirmation on Ronon's face; he obviously had missed several episodes.  
The Wraith looked thoughtful for a moment. Then, everything sped up. With an exasperated groan, Todd pushed Ronon violently against the bars of the cell and rushed towards Amelia. He put his right hand on her chest and looked at Sheppard defiantly.

"If I succeed, I want my freedom..."

At that request, every one turned to Woolsey. The man froze, intransigently rejecting the impossible demand.

John winced but said nothing. Rodney, Teyla and Jennifer just stared at Woolsey, looking vexed. Yet they all knew... _they all knew_ that letting Todd go would be one of a big mistake... Especially after everything the wraith had done to them.

But against all odds, the Wraith surprised them all by plastering a disarming smile on his face.

"It was worth the try…" He said.

And then he turned back his attention to the lifeless body of Amelia. Everyone was staring at him in amazement and incomprehension until Todd forced his life through his hand to Amelia's body. Still flattened against the bars, Ronon could not believe his eyes. He watched the Wraith running out breath and visibly trying hard to revive a woman he never seen before, never talked to, and never even fought with... The effort, though, seemed too much. Gradually, signs of weakness started to show and Todd swayed slightly. John took a step towards him... Was he feeling compassion for the creature?

Near him, Teyla seemed to be agonizing, as if she was sharing the pain. Jennifer noticed it and automatically recalled Teyla's DNA bound with the Wraith species. Showing her support, she took her hand in hers.  
Everyone was waiting for a miracle when Todd, exhausted, collapsed on the ground.  
Ronon rushed to Amelia and Jennifer dropped Teyla's hand to go look at the unconscious Wraith…

"He's barely breathing..." She snapped at Woolsey.

Next to her, Ronon held his hand to Amelia's forehead. She was not moving. Her skin remained cold…

_**TBC**__**…**_


	18. Chapter 18: Goodbye

_**Thanks to Hifiled, Miuhleex3, Jen-NCIS-lover, Jen, Dani, Melraemorgan and all the others readers.**_

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Chap 18: Goodbye…**_

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The wind was cold and dry and the sun obscured by thick gray clouds. In front of him, the white oak coffin rested on the soggy grave.  
At this moment, everything seemed strange, as if he was not really there. Everything that was going around him never seems to really reach him. Sorrowful faces were looking at him while his friends stood by his side to comfort him. Jennifer had settled on his right hand side. She was crying.

Teyla had put her hand on his back in an attempt to provide a little comfort -a soothing energy meant to ease his grief. Nothing did really work though, but he was grateful to have them both by his side.

John was standing opposite him. Their eyes had met several times; eyes showing how sorry he was for him. The soldier was like him: in moments like this, words were superfluous; his friends' presence was the most important.

Someone had recommended there were flowers on the coffin, so he chose the white roses because he thought they were the most beautiful…

Many had come to attend the burial service. The priest finally approached the grave and with a waving gesture of his hand, he invited everybody to come closer as the ceremony was about to begin.

« We are gathered here to say a final farewell to this extraordinary woman that was Marilyn Susan Jenkins ... "

He was not really listening. He never got on well with Religion. Science had always been his ultimate belief.

Jennifer's hand felt warm in his. He turned to look at her and his eyes fell on her stomach. The light swell he saw suddenly rekindled the flame in his heart.

"Are you OK, Rodney?" Jennifer murmured softly, stroking his cheek.

He replied with a quiet smile and raised his eyes to the audience again. Not far from them, the Matthews remained aloof. Ernest greeted him with a shake of the hand. On his left stood Ronon, a good head taller than the rest of the assembly. Amelia was in his arms, sadness filling her eyes.

As the priest continued reading the eulogy for May, the crowd parted slightly and let Jeannie sat next to John. She did her best to avoid bursting into tears again. She had just put Madison in the car where Caleb was watching for her until the funeral is over. The ground and the graves all around were covered in snow freezing the landscape in a moment of solemnity.

As the ceremony ended, the priest invited Rodney to throw the first handful of frozen earth on the coffin as it was lowered into the grave.  
After having offered their condolences to Rodney and Jeannie, most of the people were leaving. And soon, only the team remained around the grave.

"Rodney, Jeannie, if you need anything… Well, you know…" Sheppard started hesitantly.

"Thank you, John. Thank everyone" Jeannie replied, taking her brother's arm.

"Yeah, thank you all for being there" The scientist added.

As he said so, Teyla approached him and placed her hands on his shoulders to gently press her forehead against his, just as she had done once with Sheppard on their first night in Atlantis.

"I'm so sorry, Rodney" She murmured.

Yes, they were all there, gathered in the little cemetery of Whistler, to say goodbye to a wonderful woman. But for the time being he could not help his heart from shattering into million pieces.

OoooooO

There were flames dancing in the fireplace, accompanying the crackling of the burning logs. It has been a week now since the team had returned to the cottage to help Rodney sort out his aunt's things. Even Amelia wanted to come back. Rodney had begged her to accept his apologies since he felt responsible for Zack Matthews' foolishness. Of course, the young woman had reassured him, saying that it wasn't his fault at all. She even had confessed that, like Colonel Sheppard, she had a tendency to put herself in catastrophic situations.

"What are you planning going to do with this house now?" John asked, sitting near the fire.

"Jeannie and I talked before she left to return home. We decided to keep the house. In her will, May bequeathed it to both of us."

"That's a great idea, Rodney" Jennifer said, bringing coffee cups.

"Yeah, it's a place full of memories and May loved it a lot. Caleb and Jeannie will spend the holidays here with Madison. We could do the same." He said as he turned to look at his fiancée.

The doctor smiled at him tenderly. Rodney went on:

"I didn't think that May would leave us so suddenly. At least not so soon after she left the hospital. If I had known... I would have spent more time with her. Too many things have happened since we came here..."

"Nobody could have predicted her second heart attack, Rodney." Jennifer answered. "Her heart was extremely fragile… Tell yourself that she had had some great times with you and Jeannie before she died."

All of a sudden, the front door opened, letting in a freezing polar wind. Ronon and Amelia rushed inside.

"Brrr... It's so cold outside!" Amelia shivered, taking off her coat before seating on the sofa.

The Satedan followed and sat down beside her. None of their friends could help but smile at the kiss he put on her forehead.

"It seems you fully recovered, Banks" Sheppard stated.

"I feel fine, thank you Colonel. Jennifer told me that my wound had completely healed. But thinking that I'm here thanks to a Wraith…"

"How is Todd?" Teyla questioned, sipping her hot tea.

"Still in stasis" the doctor replied. "It's the only way to keep him alive after he had saved Amelia. He has almost lost all of his vital energy. For the time being, apart from giving him "food", I do not see what else we can do for him."

"You mean a human to feed on!" Rodney exclaimed.

"Or another Wraith" Ronon added.

"But why do you think he did what he did? Why did he sacrifice himself for a human? No offense, Amelia..." The scientist apologized.

It was _the_ big question. Sheppard sighed.

"He knew we would never have let him go. Not before we were sure we could trust him again… His sacrificed made him a liability. If he learnt something while collaborating with us, it's that unlike Wraiths, we nearly always repay our debts."

"And he would have risked his life on that simple observation?" McKay asked dubitative.

"It may be that the Wraith only demonstrated compassion..." Teyla attempted.

Everyone turned stunned faces at her as she spoke -even Ronon was puzzled-, but Teyla seemed quite serious. A Wraith showing compassion? A Wraith touched by the desperate plea of a man ready to sacrifice himself for the woman he is madly in love with?

Heavy silence fell on the room while all meditated on the incongruous possibility.

"I'm alive, and I should thank him for that. So yes, I owe him now" Amelia concluded, taking Ronon's hand.

The rest of the morning passed quietly and soon it was time to eat. They spend the first part of the meal sharing memories of May, but at some point the conversation turned to Mount Black Tusk and what happened in the cave.

"I can't believe it. How come there is an Ancient's sanctuary only a few miles away from here? Damnit..." Rodney said.

"Indeed, the cave was under your nose all this time, McKay!" Ronon added while gobbling up a huge chunk of Apple Pie under Amelia's amused stare.

"How did the I.O.A members react after our little trip in jumper?" Teyla asked.

"Well, I guess that Woolsey will be severely reprimanded by Washington. As for me, I'm waiting for General Staff to decide my case. As for Colton, well let's just say I hope he's on General O'Neill's bad books."

"The discovery of the sanctuary will make them forget everything else, I'm sure" Jennifer said.

"Apparently, the corridor along with a large part of the cave collapsed when we left. The Air Force already cordoned off the site and drilled several holes in the mountain. They managed to penetrate the main room. Officially, there are risks of landslides and avalanches. But unofficially, they want to retrieve the ZPM as well as the console to try and run the hologram again. They found the medallion you left there Amelia. I guess they'll also want to ask you -the three of you in fact-, some questions about what you've seen and heard, in case they were unable to reactivate the console."

Teyla added:

"All we understood is that a part of the ascended Ancients decided to stay in contact with humans to help them. Chaya Sar did the same on Proculis, and so did Oma Desala, Merlin and Morgan la fée with Daniel Jackson. These Ancients call themselves the Dylonians... Alyria Melior, the hologram, is implanted in many Ancient holographic devices on Earth. That is how legends were born. As you know, in this region of earth, the Thunderbird has been of great importance to people for ages. The Dylonians who escaped punishment from the Ancients used it as a mean to communicate with humans."

"Punishment? You mean becoming human again?" Sheppard said.

Teyla nodded.

"Native Americans always assimilated souls with animal spirits. Thus there should be more sites like this one around the globe, which means more ZPMs!" Rodney exclaimed.

"So it would seem…" Amelia answered, "but these ZPMs are supposed to conceal the sanctuaries, so unless they are completely depleted, the sanctuaries won't appear on our radars. And need I remind you the Ancients themselves ain't able to find them. The Dylonians are the only ones to know the locations."

"Damnit! We need these ZPMs!" McKay replied exasperated.

"Is it possible that some of them were already depleted? The one in the cave was running out of energy long before we went there." Teyla said.

"All we need is a Dylonian to be buddy-buddy with then ask him where the other temples are... piece of cake!" Sheppard mocked ironically.

As the meal ended, everyone went back to their rooms to finish packing. They were supposed to come back to Atlantis in the evening, but before they go, John wanted to pay Ernest Matthews a visit. Teyla joined him on the front door as he was about to get on board the pickup truck.

"John, May I join you?"

"Of course you can. I'm going to see Ernest. There's something I promised I'd do before leaving."

On their way to Pemberton, they talked -mostly for the sake of talking-, but carefully tried to ignore the"us"subject. Yet, John decided to give a try:

"Have you made a decision concerning New Athos? I mean, are you gonna take the next flight to Pegasus once will be back to Atlantis?"

"Yes. I would like Kanaan to see his son. They have been separated for too long."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Also, he and I have important things to discuss" Teyla continued, deliberately not looking at him.

John did not answer. He thought he knew what she was talking about and the mere idea of it brought warmth inside his stomach. He wanted to stop the car right now and do the one thing his mind was focused on: Kiss Teyla, caress her smooth tanned skin and drown himself in her scent.

Absorbed as he was by these thoughts, he didn't remark the car had crossed the line separating the two sides of the road. He quickly made a pathetic swerve to correct the trajectory of the vehicle, causing Teyla to grin at him.

They reached Lily Campbell's bed n breakfast. Ernest had come out to greet them only seconds after they had parked. Upon seeing him approaching, John felt the guilt rising in him. He had been forced to tell Ernest and his wife lies about what had happened to their nephew. He only told them that Zack and his comrades had kidnapped the girls in order to find the cave, but that they had been caught and had fled, leaving their hostages unharmed. So far, the Authorities were still supposedly looking for them, and both Canadian and American Air Force were collaborating to find evidences on the field and check the truthfulness of everyone's testimony.

Ernest was so sorry he couldn't help but offer endless apologies to Teyla and Sheppard, hoping they could somehow forgive Zack for what he had done. In the mean time, Lily had brought a plate of homemade cookies on the table.

"How's Rodney doing?" She asked.

"You know, staggering under the blow… like the rest of us actually. May's death was too sudden."

"And after what Zack did to you all..." Ernest said again mimicking his wife who had dropped her head in shame.

"I told you, Ernest, Lily, what's done is done. Don't think about it anymore, OK? It wasn't your fault."

John tried to change the subject:

"I think this belongs to you."

The soldier was holding something out in his hand. As his fingers opened they revealed the medallion shining blue.

"John…" Ernest muttered, seizing the artifact.

"I made a promise, remember?"

The old man pressed the precious artifact in his hand before granting John and Teyla with a grateful smile.

"Take care of it." John went on.

"Thank you…" Ernest said with a shaky voice as he lifted the medallion to his heart.

"No, Ernest. Thank _you_." The soldier replied.

_**TBC….**_


	19. Chapter 19: Epilogue

_**Thanks for the reviews my friends ! And now, the end… **_

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Epilogue:**

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"What about Thomas? It's cute, isn't it?"

"_Thomas McKay_… Yeah… why not… Anyway, it has to sound manly! Thomas is fine, but Philip and Albert too."

Jennifer laughed.

"Or John ... it sounds rather well to me. _John McKay_, it seems like a Western hero of sort... But don't tell Sheppard that I like his firstname, OK!" Rodney pleaded.

As Atlantis was barely awakening and the slowly rising sun already promised a beautiful day, the happy couple was cuddling on Jennifer's bedroom sofa. Rodney delicately put his hand on his lover's rebounded stomach.

"Soon, I'm gonna look like a whale!" Jennifer said with a pout on her lips.

"How Lucky, I love whales!" McKay said, burying his head in the crook of Jennifer's neck.

"And what if the baby is a girl?"

"A girl? Hum..."

"Yes, Rodney, a girl! Would it bother you so much?" Jennifer said quite upset.

"No, no! Not at all! A girl! 'Course! Girls are wonderful! Hum… Marie Curie was a girl... And Marcia Keith..."

"Rodney! This child is not even born and yet you already think is gonna be a scientist!"

"Or... a doctor in math…"

The young woman ignored the last remark.

"You know, if it's a girl, I thought maybe we could name her Elizabeth. "

Rodney looked at her and smiled.

"_Elizabeth McKay_. It sounds very good indeed" He said thoughtful.

"Elizabeth Marilyn McKay." Jennifer added while playing with Rodney's short hair.

The latter was silent for a moment, his eyes seemingly lost into space. But then he took a deep breath and started bragging again.

"Or a geneticist…What do you think?"

Jennifer gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder before kissing him. Their embrace unfortunately broke when Rodney's shirt pocket started to buzz. He took his headset out of it and activated the device.

"What!" He barked irritated.

_/__Rodney, it's Radek …/_

"Oh, Zelenka! It seems you can't do anything by yourself since I came back!"

"May I remind you that it was _you_ who wanted to check all the work done while you were gone! My reports are ready so please stop being mean!"

Jennifer chewed his earlobe maliciously, before riding Rodney's lap with a mischievous smile. The poor scientist's body temperature began to rise dangerously…

"Yes, hum... I will come later, Radek..." He stammered.

"No, no, no, Rodney! You will come now! We were supposed to meet an hour ago; I'm not going to wait any longer!"

Jennifer who had already got rid of Rodney's t-shirt was now attacking his pants zipper.

"Radek... I'm pretty busy right now..."

Jennifer chose this moment to take Rodney's face in her hand before kissing him full on the mouth, pressing her body as much as she could against his burning bare chest.

"And what exactly is keeping you busy?" the Czech almost screamed.

"I... wow... hum, in fact I' a…"

His trousers crossed the room before landing on the bed. And it was soon followed by Jennifer's bra.

"McKay? Are you OK?"

"I'm PERFECTLY FINE, Radek! I promise I'll be in my lab soon... But, for the moment there's a naquadah generator that needs my full attention…"

Rodney abruptly ended the conversation, leaving a Radek quite perplexed, standing in the middle of the lab.

OoooooooO

_Her skin was __just as soft as he had imagined. __Her body was muscular but not too much, her movements were lithe, and her mouth tasted so sweet... He wondered how was it that he had lived without touching her before. Their embrace soon became more feverish as he tumbled her over on the bed. All their clothes were gone already. __They were impossibly pressed together, glowing skin on glowing skin, as if they wanted to step inside the other's body. As he began to stroke the inside of her thighs, she gasped. __And then she had her legs around his waist, trapping him in a powerful embrace. __Their tongues mingled with delight. Their eyes never leaving the other's. __With a subtle nod and a warm yet wicked smile, the Athosian invited him into her. T__hey became one. Soon, they found their rhythm, they synchronized their breath. __Their muscles tensed as the pleasure was rising inside their bodies... Teyla's hand suddenly clasped on John's back and she let out a low moan. __They were both driving on the road of ecstasy..._

"Colonel Sheppard!"

The hushed voice of Evan Lorne woke him with a start as the soldier was drumming at the door. John felt as if he had grasped a high voltage cable with both hands. Still a bit absorbed in his dream, he instinctively turned to the pillow at his side. Empty… He should have known…

"Sorry if I woke you up, sir. Mr. Woolsey sent me here. He'd like to meet you in his office!"

Staring at the ceiling, John tried to calm the chaotic beating of his heart.

"All right major!" He replied before hearing Evan's footsteps leaving the hallway.

Damn! What a dream... Sheppard took in a good breath and ran his hands over his face. Such an intense dream in fact that the sheets needed to be changed…

OooooO

Amelia's bedroom door opened. Ronon walked in with a tray full of food.

"Ronon? Where did you get all this!" Amelia exclaimed. She was still lying on the bed.

"I know the guy in charge of the food supply."

He put the plate on the bedside table before yielding delightedly to Amelia's kiss assault.

"Croissants! Coffee! I'm definitely in love with you, Ronon Dex!" She snapped, biting into a pastry.

"It sounds Ok for me!" He retorted, imitating her.

Amelia sat cross-legged face to face with the Satedan. She was enjoying her breakfast when, suddenly, and almost by accident, she noticed something. She asked:

"Ronon..."

"Yeah?" The Satedan replied with his mouth full.

Amelia was staring at him, a mixture of wonder and excitement in her eyes.

"You removed it…"

The young woman was intently looking at Ronon's hair, and more precisely at one of his wick which, the day before, was adorned with a silver ring. Ronon's gaze met Amelia's as he said in a low voice:

"It was time."

Amelia put his hand on the Ronon's cheek.

"You didn't have to, you know..."

"I know."

OooooO

Sheppard knocked on Richard Woolsey's office glass door. The leader invited him to enter.

"John, come in! How was your night?"

"Hum… Let just say it was… agitated..."

"Oh, me too." Woolsey responded casually, causing John to have some disturbing mental images he urgently needed to get rid of...

"I've been ruminating over the IOA all night long." The leader grumbled.

"Yeah... The IOA... Me too..." John replied. But _his_ IOA had wonderful breasts and a fragrant tanned skin!

"I finished reading your report on the interview you had with them back at the SGC. They 've been hard on you..."

"Well, General O'Neill stood up for me, as usual. But the others just didn't understand that the life of a soldier is more important to us than their damn Ancient site. But General O'Neill reminded them that the I.O.A got involved in one or two SG-1 missions that went awry as well... So, they changed their mind a bit…"

Woolsey sighed.

"And you Richard, How did it go in DC?"

"Well, I got scolded. But I was prepared. The head of the IOA, Conrad Edwards, proved to be quite eloquent about, I quote, _my incompetence at commanding this base..._ The President was entitled with all the details of your trip to Canada! Fortunately for me, the man is wise and fair. I got off with a dark glance, but it was only meant to seemingly back Edward's position up. Anyway, from what I heard, I'm still in charge of the Atlantis expedition _and_ we were given a new site to explore!"

"What did they say about Todd?"

Woolsey's face darkened.

"Well, it seems we stay on _status quo_."

"Come on, Richard, Banks wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him!"

"I know that, but what do you suggest? That we provide him people to feed on and then thank him for his loyal services?"

Sheppard didn't reply. The topic was sensitive.

"Dr Keller resumed Dr Beckett's work on the Wraith retrovirus… »

"When it is perfected, Todd could be the first Wraith to try it."

"Will he agree to that?" Sheppard asked sombrely. Then, before exiting the room, he changed the subject and said lowly : "By the way, Richard, I've not thanked you before for sending us the jumpers despite the risks that took..."

"You're welcome, John" , Woolsey answered with a warm smile before plunging back into his mission reports.

OooooO

"It's incredible!" Rodney exclaimed. "The exploration team brought the cave console back here. It seems it did not suffer at all from the collapse! With any luck, and after a couple of modifications, I should be able to restart it with one of the naquadah generators!"

Then, the scientist joyously guzzled down a chunk of pudding.

"We might even learn more about the Dylonians and those other secret caves they talked about!" Jennifer added.

The mess was full to bursting. A great number of scientists from the SGC had recently established their headquarters on Atlantis in order to help completing the exploration of the city. After five years, Atlantis still kept mysteries left to be revealed.

Four young women belonging to the archeology department were sitting behind Ronon, giggling like teenagers and casting furtive but explicit glances toward the Satedan.

"I think you have new and even less discreet than usual admirers, Chewie!"

Ronon raised his head from his plate and squarely turned to them casting his sexiest glance. All the groupies' face veered to crimson.

"Amelia's going to join us?" Jennifer asked.

"She had a lot of work to catch up this morning," Ronon answered. "But she should be here any minute."

The young woman also noticed that John was much quieter than usual. Teyla had left for New Athos five days ago, with Torren. She wanted to see Kanaan and have news of her people. She had a talk with Jennifer before leaving: apparently she intended to have a serious discussion with her son's father; she had planned to clarify the situation and also tell him about John. After all, Kanaan and she were not really married... Jennifer hoped her friend would be appeased after that...  
While discussions and laughters were roaring in the background, Amelia appeared in the room. She lightly waved her hand in the team's direction and began to fill her tray with food. She was about to join their table when Chuck planted himself in front of her, a big smile on his lips.

"Amy! I'm so glad you're back ! I learned what happened! It must have been terrible! You're sure you should be up and about? You don't suffer from side effects or something? I mean, dying then being resurrected by a Wraith, it's quite amazing! I want all the details! By the way, your program for the west tower door is AWESOME! You have to show me how you..."

Nothing seems able to stop Chuck's word stream; Amelia smiling politely, her arms full, was listening without being able to place one single word. She liked Chuck and knew he had a little crush on her. It was really cute. But after two minutes of nonstop monologue she couldn't stand it anymore and threw a desperate glance at Ronon. That's the moment Rodney chose to remark:

"Hey, this guy working with Amelia, don't you think he looks like Dr. Callahan? You know, that doctor at Whistler Hospital? Charming, this doctor, I might add... and... ouch!"

Glaring furiously at him, Jennifer had suddenly kicked him in the shin.

"What? What did I say?"

Ronon looked at Chuck with a disturbing grin before standing.

"Hold on there, Grumpy," John warned him. "Keep your cool… Remember what I said about courtesy..." There was amusement in his voice as he said those words as Ronon had gone straight towards the two technicians.

Strangely, as the Satedan walked by the tables, the volume in the mess dropped a notch and all eyes turned to him. But he was used to it by now...

"Ronon!" Amelia greeted him, apparently very happy to stop Chuck's flow of words for a moment.

Chuck's disappointment showed on his face.

"Ah... Dex! How are you?" He asked without any enthusiasm.

Without a word, Ronon grabbed Amelia's tray, put it on a nearby table, and in front of the whole assembly -which had stopped eating at this point-, he took the young woman's face in his hands and kissed her passionately.  
The mess hall couldn't have been quieter. Chuck's jaw was hanging. The quartet of giggling archaeologists had frozen. The only ones with an ear-to-ear smile on their face were John, Jennifer and Rodney!

"I find him much more "zen" than before, don't you think, Sheppard?" Rodney asked before sipping his coffee.

By that time, Ronon had retrieved the tray with one hand and was holding Amelia's with the other.

"Have a nice day, Chuck!" he snapped with a big smile at the technician.

As the conversations had resumed on the background –mostly about Ronon's new "in love" status, Chuck remained petrified and puzzled in the middle of the mess.

OoooO

Rodney and Sheppard were walking together down the corridor leading to Rodney's lab.

"You wanna finish that remote-controlled car race?"

"Sorry John, I must go and meet Zelenka otherwise he's gonna be grumpy for at least a week."

"Fair enough, Ronon's probably in the gym anyway. I can still…"

"I thought you would rather see Teyla..."

Sheppard suddenly stared at him blankly.

"Teyla? She's back?"

"I'd say it's been an hour. She must be in her quarters..."

"Oh! Well then, I'll maybe go greet her..." Sheppard said faking detachment.

"Yeah, sure..." Rodney said laughing inwardly as he had resumed his walk to his lab.

OoooO

A few minutes later, John found himself standing in front of Teyla's quarters. He took several deep breath but could not find the courage to knock: she was back from the New Athos and she had seen Kanaan. A good hundred different scenarii were buzzing in his head. And before he could do anything, the door opened. A little startled, Sheppard found himself nose to nose with the woman feeling his mind. Teyla greeted him with a big smile and invited him inside.

"How long have you been outside my door?" She mockingly asked.

"Hum... no, I... I just got here actually... I simply wanted to know how was your trip to Pegasus... I mean.."

John's embarrassment amused Teyla.

"Well, everything went very well. Torren spent some days with his father. My people seems to live peacefully. Harvest times are over and apparently the season was excellent. There shouldn't be food supply problem until next time."

"That's good. Food is... very important." John muttered swaying lightly from one leg to the other.  
_  
_Teyla came closer and plunged her eyes into John's. The soldier froze instantly.

"Kanaan and I talked a lot back in New Athos. In the end, we both reached the same conclusion: we are not in love with each other anymore, at least not in the way we were before. But we'll remain close friends. It is the least we can do for our son to be happy."

John sighed and closed his eyes but Teyla put her hand on his cheek and close the distance between them. Gently, she brushed her lips on John's who had instinctively snaked his arm around her waist.

"I believe it is time for our relationship to take a new turn, John Sheppard..." Teyla murmured between kisses.

"I just hope this is not another dream." The soldier replied while Teyla locked her quarters door…

**-****THE END-**

_**Thank you to all who have faithfully followed this story and left comments. Some readers have asked me if this fic has a sequel and the answer is YES! But unfortunately, this sequel is currently in its French version. It's untitled "Les ombres du passé" (the shadows of the past) . You can find it in my list of fics in my profile page. If someone wants to help me with the translation (or wants to translate alone), it is with pleasure that I will post it on this site. In this last part, we can find the main characters, but also other characters from SGA, SG1, villains, adventure, love of course, Todd… If you are interested, let me a message.**_

_**Thank you very much to planet p and especially to Codzwallop for their help and their kindness.**_

_**Just one last thing: VIVA ROMELIA ! AND PLEASE REVIEW !  
**_

_**(I hope that much more people will write on this pairing ! And sorry for my bad english.)**_


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